The son of a Florida sheriff's deputy suspected to be the gunman in an attack at Florida State University that killed two and injured six had a history of espousing radical conspiracy theories, according to people who knew him.
Leon County Sheriff Walter A. McNeil identified the alleged gunman as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, a student at Florida State University whose mother is a veteran Leon County sheriff deputy. McNeil said Ikner used a gun that belonged to his mother.
"I got into arguments with him in class over how gross the things he said were," Lucas Luzietti, a student who shared a class with Ikner said.
According to the Florida native, Ikner touted right wing conspiracy theories and hateful ideas. Among them was a theory that President Joe Biden illegally came into office, "Rosa Parks was in the wrong," and black people were ruining his neighborhood. Ikner made it clear to the class that he had guns, the Tallahassee State College student said.
Court documents reveal new details about the early life of Phoenix Ikner, the 20-year-old accused of a mass shooting at Florida State University.
Ikner changed his name in 2020, law enforcement sources confirmed. He is referred to in court documents as Christian Gunnar Erikson, which was his name until 2020. Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil identified Ikner as the son of Deputy Jessica Ikner.
However, documents show Jessica Ikner is his stepmother and his biological mother is a woman named Anne-Mari Eriksen. In 2015, Eriksen was arrested on a kidnapping charge after she violated her custody agreement and took Ikner with her to Norway without permission.
A student who was once part of a "political round table" with Ikner revealed he harbored white supremacist views. "Basically our only rule was no Nazis, colloquially speaking, and he espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric and far right rhetoric as well," Reid Seybold said. Seybold, who was president of the club, said he had to kick Ikner out of the group due to his beliefs and rhetoric.
And Riley Pusins, who is part of another political discourse club on campus that Ikner would attend, had a similar experience. Pusins said Ikner would attend meetings "almost every Thursday" in which he would "go up to the line" about what was acceptable discussions, but would often cross the line after the formal meeting ended. The student said Ikner often advocated Trump's agenda, and promoted white supremacist values. Pusins said others in the group would describe Ikner as a fascist.
The usual suspects are calling Ikner a "radical leftist and registered Democrat," even though state records show that Ikner is a registered Republican. Ikner also has the motto of the Christian Identity Movement in his bio on X.