Tallahassee Reels As Fsu Shooting Impacts Lawmakers’ Backyard

Tallahassee is still in shock Friday morning after a shooter killed two and injured six at Florida State University Thursday.

Phoenix Ikner, the 20-year-old son of a Leon County deputy sheriff according to local police, opened fire at the Tallahassee campus on Thursday, sending students running and leaving the state Capitol — currently in the midst of closing out its regular legislative session — stunned and saddened.

Soon after the alert about the active shooter, Capitol police told lawmakers, staff and reporters not to leave the building — located about 3 miles from where the shooting happened. The House and Senate closed their entrances, and only the main entrances to the Capitol were open.

The alert happened while the House Education and Employment committee was meeting, as state Rep. Christine Hunschofsky (D-Parkland), who was mayor of Parkland during the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was set to present a school safety bill.

“The trauma that everybody will be going through breaks my heart,” she said during committee. “And I’m very grateful that we continue to prioritize school safety, making sure that our communities and schools are as safe as possible because this is heartbreak and loss and grief and trauma that stays with people forever.”

After the bill unanimously passed, GOP state Rep. Jennifer Canady of Lakeland, who chairs the committee, requested a moment of silence. Committee member state Rep. Fiona McFarland (R-Sarasota) said she walked back to her office and gathered with staff “to share information or pieces of news.”

“It was so powerful to sit with the FSU students and alums and parents who work with us in the Capitol as this tragic event played out in real time before us,” she said.

In Jacksonville, state Attorney General James Uthmeier canceled a planned press conference and GOP Sen. Rick Scott was in Boston prepared to speak at Harvard University but called off his appearance and flew to Tallahassee. He and his wife, Ann Scott, visited two shooting victims at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Scott was governor in 2014 when there was a late-night shooting at the main FSU library and signed the Parkland reforms into law.

“I think we did the right thing,” Scott said of the legislation, speaking just outside the entrance to the TMH emergency center. “We focused on how we’re going to keep these kids safe. … I think we passed a good bill.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis called for the alleged shooter to be “brought to justice” and praised law enforcement officers; his public schedule also said he and first lady Casey DeSantis visited the hospital where victims were being treated. House Speaker Daniel Perez, an FSU graduate, described the shooting as “terrifying and every parent’s worst nightmare.” Some Republicans in the Legislature avoided answering questions from reporters, while others offered their condolences to families and victims.

Democrats noted the state is facing yet another mass shooting as some GOP lawmakers have pushed for fewer restrictions on firearms — and not long after the state House passed a measure that would reverse a portion of the Parkland-era law by reducing the gun-buying age from 21 to 18. State Rep. Michelle Salzman (R-Pensacola), the sponsor of the legislation, declined to comment.

But Democrats said such tragedies were evidence that more reforms were needed. State Democratic Rep. Dianne Hart of Tampa pointed to the House-passed bill and another that would allow guns on campuses (which fizzled in state Senate committee). “As a mother,” she said, “I could not imagine what I would be going through right this moment if I was concerned about whether or not my child was one of those people in that union building.”

“It's just incredibly overwhelming and frustrating the fact that this keeps happening and it doesn't lead to substantial policy change to make it better,” said Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani, whose Orlando district faced the deadly Pulse nightclub shooting and an attempted shooting at the University of Central Florida.

Indeed, some at the Capitol had been through this before. Logan Rubenstein, a legislative intern for Rep. Dan Daley (D-Coral Springs) and a junior at Florida State University, is an alum of Stoneman Douglas. He decided not to go to class Thursday morning because it was his 21st birthday and instead headed for the Capitol. He said he received a text message in a group chat saying to “call 911” and that was when he received an alert.

“I grew up in Parkland, and this is what it felt like,” he said. “There’s now been a mass shooting at my high school and my college. No one should have to go through what we went through.”

When asked about the tragedy during an executive order signing at the Oval Office, President Donald Trump said he would protect the Second Amendment. “These things are terrible,” he said. “But the gun doesn't do the shooting, the people do — it's a phrase that's used probably too often. I will tell you that it's a shame. “

March for Our Lives leadership slammed Trump’s response and said in a statement that “Florida deserves leaders who will finally prioritize our lives over gun industry profits.”

“Let’s be clear: ‘horrible things like this happen’ because Donald Trump cares more about gun lobby donations than the safety of America's kids,” co-founder and executive director Jaclyn Corin and co-founder and board member David Hogg said. “Trump will only put his fist up in the air and fight if it’s him that gets shot, not you or your kids.”

Isa Dominguez reported from Tallahassee, Florida; Kimberly Leonard reported from Miami; Gary Fineout contributed to this report.