UPDATE: Disturbing details emerging on Florida State University shooter

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During a press conference Thursday afternoon, police in Tallahassee, Florida made an announcement no one was expecting: the gunman in the deadly shooting at the Florida State University is the son of a longtime Leon County Sheriff’s deputy.

The handgun used by Phoenix Ikner, 20, a Poltical Science Major at FSU, to kill two individuals and wound five others, was one that belonged to his mother, Jessica Ikner, a deputy for the Leon County Sheriff’s Department, police said.

The New York Post revealed in a report Friday morning that Jessica Ikner is actually the young man’s stepmother, and announced that his biological mom had kidnapped him and fled to Norway when he was 11 years old, amid a bitter custody battle. The report explains:

Anne-Mari Eriksen took her then-11-year-old son to the Scandinavian nation in March 2015 in violation of the custody agreement she had with Christopher Ikner — after telling the father she was taking him to South Florida for spring break, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Leon County Sheriff’s Office viewed by The Post.

Eriksen and Phoenix Ikner — who at the time went by his birth name, Christian Gunnar Eriksen — both have American and Norwegian citizenship.

“Instead of staying in South Florida, the defendant allegedly fled the country with him in violation of their custody agreement,” the affidavit stated.

Christopher Ikner only discovered his son had been kidnapped when the 11-year-old spilled the beans during a phone call with his dad.

At the time, the boy’s father notified authorities, saying his son “has developmental delays and special needs,” and was “on medication for several health and mental issues, to include a growth hormone disorder and ADHD.”

When the biological mother finally returned with the 11-year-old boy in July 2015, she was arrested at the airport.

Christian Gunnar Eriksen changed his name to Phoenix Ikner in 2020, the New York Post also reveals.

Ikner was on the Leon County Youth Advisory board. He is a registered Republican, according to a screenshot posted on social media:

Ikner is quoted in an FSU News report dated January 19, 2025, the day before President Donald Trump’s inauguration.  In the report, he appears to be an onlooker who is critical of anti-Trump protesters.

The report is titled, “Tallahassee SDS protests Trump’s agenda and FSU policies in campus rally.” Below are excerpts from the report:

Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) marched on Jan. 14 to oppose President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s agenda. The protest occurred less than a week before Trump’s inauguration.

Roughly 15 protestors started their rally around the Legacy Fountain in Landis Green. Here, they passed out flyers with written chants, held a Palestinian flag, and signs with phrases like “Abortion is Healthcare.” The group began their march toward the Integration Statue shortly after 4 p.m., where they set up to make speeches.

The report then notes that a group of onlookers began to form, and quotes Ikner as follows:

“These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons,” Phoenix Ikner, a political science major, said. “I think it’s a little too late, he’s [Trump] already going to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 and there’s not really much you can do unless you outright revolt, and I don’t think anyone wants that.”

Following the deadly shooting on Thursday, the FSU News website has now updated their January 19 report to add an editor’s note:

An earlier version of this article included a quote from the gunman in the April 17 shooting at FSU and was initially removed at the decision of our editors to maintain ethical journalistic standards and in an abundance of caution, avoid amplifying the voice of an individual responsible for violence. As misinformation about the quote was posted on social media and online, we’ve made the decision to restore the quote.

Multiple X users are posting a photo of Ikner from a social media post, of him wearing a red MAGA hat.

Jessica Ikner was honored as Employee of the Month by the Leon County Sheriff’s Department in March of last year.

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