Suspected FSU Gunman Raised In Sheriff Culture, Known For Right-Wing Views

The suspected shooter who killed two people and injured six others at Florida State University was "steeped" in sheriff's office culture and known for his white supremacist views, according to reports.

Phoenix Ikner, who is accused of opening fire Thursday (April 17) on FSU's campus, had views that were so disturbing that a former classmate reportedly recalled thinking that he "should not have access to firearms." Ikner believed that civil rights activist "Rosa Parks was in the wrong" when she declined to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, reports state.

“I got into arguments with him in class over how gross the things he said were,” Lucas Luzietti said.

“What are you supposed to do?” he asked. “His (step) mother was a cop, and Florida doesn’t have very strong red flag laws.”

According to police, Ikner used his mother's service weapon in Thursday's shooting. Ikner reportedly learned how to shoot while serving on the Leon County Sheriff's Office Youth Advisory Council. His stepmother, Jessica, was a school resource deputy and was allowed to purchase the weapon Ikner allegedly employed for personal use.

“He has been steeped in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office family, engaged in a number of training programs that we have,” Sheriff Walter A. McNeil said in a statement. “So it’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.”

The shooting “is tragic in more ways than you people in the audience could ever (fathom),” McNeil added.

Ryan Seybold, Ikner's former peer at Tallahassee State, said the suspected shooter "espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric and far-right rhetoric” that he was eventually kicked out of a political discussion group. Riley Pusins, the group's current president, also noted that Ikner was a fierce advocate of Donald Trump and would often make "inappropriate comments" that crossed the line. According to reports, many group members viewed Ikner as a "fascist" and said he liked to remind them that he had access to guns.

A motive for Thursday's shooting remains unclear.

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