Florida State University shooting suspect did not know victims - police

A suspect accused of killing two people and injuring six others during a shooting spree at Florida State University did not know his victims, police said Friday.

The alleged gunman, 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner, began shooting around lunchtime on Thursday near the student union building in Tallahassee. The motive remains unclear.

Police said the gun was owned by his stepmother, Jessica Ikner, a veteran police officer.

In a video statement, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said: "At this point, there does not appear to be any connection at all between the shooter and any of the victims."

Details about the victims began to emerge Friday. One of two people killed was an employee of food service provider Aramark, the company said on Friday.

Tiru Chabba, 45, of Greenville, South Carolina, was a married father of two, according to a statement from a law firm hired by his family. He was on the Florida campus working Thursday when the shooting began.

"We are heartbroken to confirm that an Aramark employee was among those killed at FSU yesterday in that senseless act of violence," the company, which manages Florida State University's on-campus dining programmes, said in a statement. "We are absolutely shaken by the news and our deepest sympathies are with the family and our entire Aramark community."

The other dead victim, university dining worker Robert Morales, was identified by his sister, who posted a tribute online. His LinkedIn profile said he had been working at FSU as a university dining co-ordinator since 2015.

Tiru Chabba, 45, was working on the Florida State Univeristy campus when the shooting broke out.

At a news conference on Friday, doctors at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare hospital said six people injured by gunshots were in stable condition, with one seriously injured.

Doctors said two of the victims would be released from hospital on Friday, and all were expected to make full recoveries.

According to a police timeline, officers responded to an active shooter call shortly before midday local time on Thursday. An alert was issued warning students and those on campus to "seek shelter and await further instructions".

"One of my classmates got an alert on her phone and announced it to the rest of the class," student Ava Arenado told CBS News Miami.

Another student, Blake Leonard, told CBS he initially heard roughly 12 shots fired.

"In my head, I thought it was construction at first, until I looked behind me and saw people running from the union towards my direction, and then I heard another 12 or 15 shots go off, so I started running away from there too," he said.

The incident ended less than five minutes later when police shot Mr Ikner after he did not comply with their commands, authorities said. He was undergoing treatment at a local hospital, police said.

Chief Revell said Mr Ikner had serious injuries and would be in hospital for a "significant time", after which he will face charges "up to and including first-degree murder".

Students mourn at a makeshift memorial near the scene of a shooting

Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil described the suspect's stepmother Mrs Ikner, who worked as a school resource officer, as a "model employee".

He said the gun used in the shooting was a police-issued firearm that Mrs Ikner kept for personal use after the force upgraded its weapons. A shotgun also was found at the scene, police said.

The suspect was a "longstanding member" of the sheriff office's youth advisory council and was engaged in a number of training programmes, Sheriff McNeil said.

"So it is not a surprise that he had access to weapons," he said.

Court documents indicate that the alleged gunman was largely raised by his father and stepmother.

He was previously known as Christian Eriksen and was the subject of a long-running custody dispute between his biological mother and father. He had health issues including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a growth disorder, according to court documents.

The FSU student newspaper quoted the suspect commenting on an anti-Trump rally on campus in January.

FSUNews.com said Mr Ikner, who was registered to vote as a Republican, commented about anti-Trump protesters: "These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons."

President Donald Trump, who said he was briefed on the incident, called the shooting "a shame, a horrible thing".

When asked by reporters whether he wanted to change gun regulations in light of the shooting, he said he was a "big advocate" of the Second Amendment in the US Constitution, which protects gun rights.

"I have been since the beginning," he said. "I have protected it. These things are terrible. We will have more to say about it later."