Florida State University (FSU) student McKenzie Heeter appeared on NewsNation Thursday evening to describe the terrifying moment she spotted 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner allegedly shooting people on campus, leaving two dead and six wounded so far.
Around noon on Thursday, initial alerts from FSU’s X account were sent out to students at the Tallahassee campus, advising them to seek shelter as an active shooter had been “reported in the area of the Student Union.” Appearing on NewsNation’s “Cuomo” to recount her experience, Heeter said she had been walking out of “the Union” when she heard the first gunshot.
“I was walking out of the Union with my food for lunch, and I noticed an orange Hummer parked at this little service road near the Union,” Heeter said. “So as I’m walking, I walk right past the Hummer — right past the dude. I’m walking. I have one of my AirPods in, playing music. What caught my attention, I think it was the gunshot, the first gunshot he made with a shotgun.”
“I thought originally [it] was a rifle, but it turns out [it] was a shotgun. So he makes that shot in our direction and misses. That’s when he turns around and goes to the Hummer, and he grabs his pistol, and he shoots the lady walking in front of him. That’s when I knew that there was no target. There was no one specific. It was just anybody he could see,” Heeter added.
With early reports of injuries and videos from students surfacing online, Ikner was later identified by officials during a press conference Thursday afternoon, according to NBC News. Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil told reporters the 20-year-old is the son of a sheriff’s deputy and had access to her weapons.
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Heeter was then asked about the woman she saw being shot. Heeter said she didn’t believe the woman was an FSU student because she appeared older and was wearing scrubs. The FSU student was asked later about Ikner returning to his vehicle to get a different weapon.
“It wasn’t really like he even really left it the way it was parked. It was just kind of like he opened the driver door, kept the driver door open [and] shot with his bigger gun. Then he went [and] turned around and basically just grabbed it straight out,” Heeter said.
FSU Police Chief Jason Trumbower said Ikner was able to shoot at multiple victims before authorities engaged, neutralized, and apprehended him, according to NBC News.
When asked about her reaction to seeing the woman in scrubs being shot in front of her, Heeter said she ran home.
“I ran. I live right across West Tennessee Street and thank God I was already on the edge of near the stop sign and stuff, but I just kept running all the way to my apartment,” Heeter said.
None of the victims from the incident have been publicly identified. Ikner’s motive has not yet been released.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/NewsNation/”Cuomo”)
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