{"id":134226,"date":"2025-04-19T00:52:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T00:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/motive-of-fsu-shooter-who-spread-far-right-rhetoric-still-unclear-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T00:52:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T00:52:00","slug":"motive-of-fsu-shooter-who-spread-far-right-rhetoric-still-unclear-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/motive-of-fsu-shooter-who-spread-far-right-rhetoric-still-unclear-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Motive of FSU shooter who spread far-right rhetoric still unclear – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Years before he was named a suspect in this week\u2019s fatal shooting at Florida State University<\/a>, Phoenix Ikner had sought a new beginning. Traumatized by a complex custody battle between his parents\u00a0that had ended in charges against his mother when he was younger, the then-teenager asked a Leon County, Florida, circuit court for a legal name change. \u00a0
Ikner appeared at his court hearing in 2020 via videoconference, dressed in his naval junior ROTC uniform. An honors student in high school at the time, he made a good impression.\u00a0
\u201cThis court found him to be a mentally, emotionally, and physically mature young adult, who is very articulate, quite intelligent, very well spoken, and very polite,\u201d wrote administrative magistrate James Banks in his approval of the legal switch from Ikner\u2019s birth name, which had been Christian Gunnar Eriksen.\u00a0
Ikner chose to adopt his father\u2019s surname and selected a first name brimming with symbolism.\u00a0\u00a0
\u201cHe chose the name Phoenix because of its representation of rising from the ashes anew,\u201d Banks wrote.\u00a0\u00a0
How Ikner went from a teenager with hopes for a fresh start to a 20-year-old accused of killing two people and injuring at least five others in Thursday\u2019s shooting in Tallahassee is a mystery. In interviews with classmates and reviews of legal documents, a portrait of a young man who struggled with a fractured family life and clashed with classmates over his extreme political views has emerged.
But a possible motive for the deadly violence is not yet known.\u00a0
Ikner had just transferred to Florida State University from Tallahassee State College and enrolled this semester as a political science major. He remains hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries after he was shot by law enforcement, police said.\u00a0
As the investigation widened Friday into what led to the gunfire, students who knew the accused gunman described him as a troubled young man who openly talked about having a weapon.
\u201cHe would joke about mass violence,\u201d said Lucas Luzietti, who shared a national government class with Ikner when he was at Tallahassee State College. \u201cAnd he did talk about how he used guns and had access to them.\u201d
Luzietti said he once argued with Ikner over the 2020 election and said that their classmates would exchange looks over Ikner\u2019s comments. That included Ikner denying the results of the presidential election and sharing hateful comments about minorities, he added.\u00a0
\u201cHe espoused the election denialism belief that Joe Biden was not the legitimate president, he said that Rosa Parks was in the wrong, he also talked about how Black people are ruining his neighborhood and Stonewell was bad for society,\u201d Luzietti said. \u201cHe would also talk about how multiculturalism is dangerous.\u201d\u00a0
Reid Seybold, a senior at FSU who said he first met Ikner at Tallahassee State, recalled Ikner being asked not to return to a political discussion club at his former college because of \u201cwhite supremacist rhetoric and far-right rhetoric.\u201d\u00a0
The club\u2019s current president, Riley Pusins, said Ikner often promoted white supremacist values, even though the group was nonpartisan and was about debate and political discourse. After the meetings, Ikner would make even worse remarks, Pusins said.\u00a0
NBC News has confirmed the identity of the victims who died in Thursday\u2019s shooting: Robert Morales<\/a>, 57, and Tiru Chabba, 45<\/a>. FSU grad student Madison Askins was among the injured; the identities of the other wounded victims have not yet been released.
Authorities said Thursday they believe Ikner used a handgun that belonged to his stepmother, Jessica Ikner, a Leon County sheriff\u2019s deputy and a school resource officer at a Tallahassee middle school.\u00a0
Jessica Ikner and other family members could not be reached for comment. Court documents, however, detail difficulties in Ikner\u2019s upbringing, including health issues and a battle for his custody that stretched overseas.\u00a0
In 2015, Ikner\u2019s biological mother, Anne-Mari Eriksen, took him out of the country, violating her agreement with Ikner\u2019s father, Christopher, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Leon County Sheriff\u2019s Office viewed by NBC News. Eriksen had shared custody of her son, who was 10 or 11 years old and went by his birth name at the time, but she was required to give advanced notice if she took Ikner out of the U.S. For spring break that year, the affidavit said, Eriksen had told Christopher Ikner they were traveling to South Florida. Instead, she allegedly took their son to Norway, where both she and him had dual citizenship. \u00a0
Several weeks after spring break ended, Eriksen still had not brought the boy home to the United States and \u201chad no intention of returning\u201d him to Tallahassee, despite pleas from his father, the affidavit added.\u00a0
When Eriksen did not bring Ikner back, Christopher Ikner contacted authorities to report his son kidnapped and to report that he was being denied medical care for developmental delays and special needs he had been diagnosed with, which included attention deficit\/hyperactivity disorder and a growth hormone disorder, the affidavit said.
\u201cBy keeping Christian in Norway, the defendant failed to have Christian in school for scheduled testing, canceled appointments with Christian\u2019s doctors in the U.S., and failed to maintain his medication protocols by her own admission,\u201d it said.\u00a0
Later that year, Eriksen filed a lawsuit against Christopher and Jessica Ikner plus two other relatives in the Ikner family for allegedly slandering her and causing \u201cpsychological harm\u201d to their son by \u201ccontinuous and vicious litigation in family court.\u201d The Ikners could not be reached for comment.\u00a0
\u201cChristian Gunnar Eriksen is the victim of psychological and emotional abuse, as well as parental alienation. Christopher Ikner enjoys taking credit for things that Anne-Mari Eriksen has done privately, professionally and parent wise,\u201d the legal complaint read.\u00a0
Eriksen, who could not be reached for comment, was ultimately charged with removing a minor from the state and failing to return a minor, records show. She pleaded no contest and served a brief jail sentence.\u00a0
When Phoenix Ikner petitioned to legally change his name from Christian Gunnar Eriksen in 2019, which the court approved the following year, his mother objected to the name change, while his father supported it, papers show.\u00a0
Banks, the administrative magistrate who approved the change, wrote: \u201cHe sees no reason to keep his former name as it is a constant reminder of the 2015 tragedy he suffered through and of his mother who he has not seen or spoken to since 2015.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0
Authorities say that at about 11 a.m. Thursday, Ikner arrived at the FSU parking garage, where he stayed for close to an hour before walking toward the student union. He then allegedly stalked buildings and lawns, firing his handgun indiscriminately at people, police added.\u00a0
Panicked students fled for their lives and called 911. Responding officers shot Ikner when he refused their commands, police said, with the rampage lasting less than five minutes.
Following Thursday\u2019s shooting, Ikner has invoked his right to remain silent, police said.\u00a0
Seybold, who was locked down in a classroom and could hear gunfire nearby, is anxious for answers.\u00a0
\u201cI don\u2019t know why he would have done something like this,\u201d Seybold said. \u201cI don\u2019t know where it would have come from, but I\u2019d sure like to find out.\u201d
Elizabeth Chuck is a reporter for NBC News who focuses on health and mental health, particularly issues that affect women and children.
Marlene Lenthang is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Erik Ortiz is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital focusing on racial injustice and social inequality.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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