Phoenix Ikner has entered a plea of not guilty to charges related to a tragic shooting at Florida State University, which include two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder.
LEON COUNTY, Fla. — More than a year after a harrowing shooting incident at Florida State University, the accused gunman appeared in court for the first time. On Tuesday, Phoenix Ikner, 21, faced the court in person, accused of a violent spree that claimed two lives and injured six others on April 17, 2025.
In a case that has shaken the university community and beyond, Ikner stands charged with the deaths of two men and the attempted murder of several more individuals. He has maintained his innocence on all counts of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
The prosecution has announced its intention to pursue the death penalty, underscoring the severity of the charges.
Tuesday’s pre-trial hearing in Leon County marked a significant moment in the ongoing legal proceedings, coinciding with the public release of security and bodycam footage from the day of the shooting. This hearing also followed the controversial release of Ikner’s ChatGPT logs, which have sparked a series of lawsuits.
This is several months ahead of the start of Ikner’s trial, which is set to begin in October after a judge postponed it.
The day of the FSU shooting
Officials say Ikner opened fire on the FSU campus just before lunchtime on April 17, 2025, after the school issued an alert saying an active shooter was reported near the university’s student union.
An officer with the Tallahassee Police Department shot Ikner in the jaw, keeping him hospitalized for several weeks.
Ikner was later identified as the shooter, as well as a student at FSU.
The shooting took the lives of 45-year-old Tiru Chabba and 57-year-old Ricardo Morales.
Officers said five other victims suffered gunshot wounds, and one other person was injured while attempting to run away from the scene.
The Leon County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Ikner is the stepson of one of the agency’s deputies.
LCSO said Ikner’s stepmother left a service weapon unattended, and that gun was found at the scene.
ChatGPT’s alleged involvement in FSU shooting
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed criminal subpoenas into OpenAI and its chatbot ChatGPT after he says the platform assisted Ikner in planning the shooting.
Uthmeier explained that ChatGPT advised the suspect on how to carry out the shooting, including what time of day would be appropriate to carry it out, where on campus would have the most people, what type of gun and ammo to use, as well as whether it would be useful in a short range.
The attorney general said if a living person gave this advice, they would be charged with murder.
“If that bot were a person, they would be charged with a principal in first-degree murder,” he said.
Uthmeier’s office is now issuing subpoenas to find information on OpenAI’s policies and internal training materials between March 1, 2024, and April 17, 2026, regarding user threats of harm to others on the platform, harm to themselves and cooperation with law enforcement to report on crimes.
Attorneys representing one of the victims in that shooting have already filed a lawsuit against OpenAI. In court filings, they say they have “reason to believe that ChatGPT may have advised the shooter how to commit these heinous crimes.”
Previous reports from 10 Tampa Bay News and the Associated Press contributed to this story.