FSU Shooting Anniversary: Student Stories and the Urgent Call for Campus Safety Legislation

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — Friday, April 17 marks the solemn anniversary of the tragic mass shooting that occurred at Florida State University one year ago.

FSU President Richard McCullough has announced that the university will observe a moment of silence at noon this Friday. This gesture is intended to provide a space for students and staff to pause and remember those who lost their lives in the heartbreaking incident.

In an unrelated case, a man has admitted to fatally stabbing his mother in Brandon, an event described by authorities as one that “shattered an entire family.”

Authorities have identified the shooter in the FSU tragedy as Phoenix Ikner, who fatally shot Robert Morales and Tiru Chabba during the attack.

At 11:51 a.m. – Ikner leaves the parking garage.
Between 11:56 a.m. and 11:57 a.m. – The first shot is fired. Ikner walks in and out of buildings and green spaces, firing a handgun.
By 11:58 a.m. – Multiple 911 calls report a male actively shooting on campus, simultaneous to a police response by nearby officers.
12 p.m. – The suspect is shot by responding officers and taken into custody.

The Tallahassee Police Department’s timeline reveals that Ikner arrived at the FSU campus around 11 a.m., parking in a university garage. He lingered in the vicinity for approximately an hour, intermittently moving in and out of his vehicle.

As gunfire echoed across campus, students were forced to make incredibly difficult split-second decisions. Some ran for their lives, while others barricaded themselves inside of classrooms – not knowing what, or who was on the other side of those doors.

“Ten, twenty people started just running past me. And I was like, ‘What is going on?’ And people are screaming, there’s a shooter,” said former FSU student Christian Maldonado.

Witnesses flooded 911 with calls as students scrambled for safety, dropping their belongs, fleeing the student union, and dragging desks and file cabinets to barricade classroom doors.

“We were all freaking out,” said FSU grad student Teagan Hayes, who was in a building directly across from where the shooting took place.

Hayes said she immediately called 911 once she saw students running outside of the window.

“It was incredibly scary,” she said. “It was kind of crazy how fast we all just like worked together and moved the filing cabinet in front of the door.”

Hayes recalled calling her parents during the lockdown. Her father, a calm presence during the chaos, walked her through safety steps — making sure the lights were off, something was blocking the door, and they had a plan to escape through the window if necessary.

At the time of the shooting, some classrooms had locks, while other larger lecture halls did not — leaving students terrified, unsure where the shooter could strike next.

“I parked on the top floor of the parking garage and saw the shooter’s car, and he was in there during that time,” Hayes said. “Things could have turned out a lot worse. I just feel really lucky.”

In the months following the aftermath, students rallied at the Florida Capitol, calling on the legislature to strengthen campus safety measures.

“There should be door locks inside classrooms, or at the very least, a way for teachers to lock doors because the fact that TPD could barge open our door and those chairs did nothing was incredibly unsafe and it did not provide any sort of safety towards me or towards any of my fellow students,” said FSU student Simon Monteleone.

State lawmakers were determined to take these concerns and create a new school safety bill this past session.

Pensacola Representative Michelle Salzman (R-Escambia) led the charge to pass HB 757, which aims to increase campus security, establish a university-wide alert system, require locks on all classroom doors, and expand the guardian program.

“The number one thing that we found was the hardening. We really did need locks on the doors; we really did need an alert system,” Salzman said.

That bill now awaits Governor Ron DeSantis’ signature.

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