USA: Two die, five injured in Florida State University shooting

The suspected shooter was identified as  20-year-old Phoenix Ikner.

Ikner is the son of a Leon County sheriff’s deputy who serves as a local school resource officer, officials told CNN.

According to reports, he is probably a student at the university.

Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil was quoted as saying by CNN that the suspect had access to his mother’s weapons because she works at the sheriff’s office.

Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell told the news channel that the handgun that was found on the suspect when he was taken into custody is his mother’s old service weapon.

The suspect was shot by the cops, and he is currently undergoing treatment in the hospital.

The motive behind the attack is still not known.

According to reports, a shotgun was also found at the scene.

Student Reacts

McKenzie Heeter, a student, said she was leaving the Florida State University student union when she saw an orange Hummer parked nearby on a service road.

She told CNN that she saw a man next to the car holding “a larger gun,” when he “let off a shot” in her general direction, where some other people were also walking.

“So when he turned to the woman and shot her, that’s when I realized, there was no target. And that it was anybody he could see. And I took off,” Heeter said. “She was shot in her back, she was just walking. And he just turned around and shot her.”

Holden Mamula, another student, said police evacuated them from their classroom.

“I saw this police officer with an assault rifle, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is real,’” Mamula told CNN today.

“It’s insane to me how we keep having these incidents, after incidents, after incidents, of just mass shooting,” Mamula said. “I don’t think you feel the emotion until you’ve been through that.”

Killer Will Be Brought To Justice, Says Governor

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said: "This killer will be must and will be brought to justice to the fullest extent of the law.”

He wished those who are undergoing treatment in the hospital undergo speedy recovery.

He also mourned the deaths of two people in the mass shooting incident.

Trump Briefed About Florida Incident

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump was briefed about the shooting incident.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN in a statement that the administration is “actively monitoring the situation.”

“The President has been briefed on the shooting at Florida State University and the White House is actively monitoring the situation,” Leavitt said.

Following the incident, the university announced all its classes, events and business operations would remain cancelled till Friday.

2014 Shooting

In 2014, three people were shot dead in the library of the university.

Police had shot dead the gunman, who was a former student of the university.

The father of a victim who died in the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland High School in Florida said the incident left America heartbroken.

"America is broken. My daughter Jaime was murdered in the Parkland school shooting. Many of her friends who were lucky enough to survive that shooting went on to attend FSU. Incredibly, some of them were just a part of their 2nd school shooting and some were in the student union today. As a father, all I ever wanted after the Parkland shooting was to help our children be safe. Sadly, because of the many people who refuse to do the right things about reducing gun violence, I am not surprised by what happened today,"  Fred Guttenberg, a gun control advocate, wrote on X.