Motive of FSU shooter who spread far-right rhetoric still unclear

In recent years, Phoenix Ikner became known for far-right, white supremacist rhetoric, classmates said. It’s unclear if that had any tie to the violence.

Years before he was named a suspect in this week’s fatal shooting at Florida State University, Phoenix Ikner had sought a new beginning. Traumatized by a complex custody battle between his parents that 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.  

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. 

“This 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,” wrote administrative magistrate James Banks in his approval of the legal switch from Ikner’s birth name, which had been Christian Gunnar Eriksen. 

Ikner chose to adopt his father’s surname and selected a first name brimming with symbolism.  

“He chose the name Phoenix because of its representation of rising from the ashes anew,” Banks wrote.