Classmates say suspect had white supremacist views
Reid Seybold, a senior at FSU who was around the corner from the shooting when it unfolded, said he knew Ikner from a political discussion group at Tallahassee State College, where he spent the first two years of his education before he transferred to FSU.
Seybold, the group's president, said Ikner was asked not to return to the group because of views that Seybold said aligned with white supremacy.
....
Lucas Luzietti, a junior studying political science, shared a national government class with Phoenix Ikner in 2023 at Tallahassee State College.
He recalled how Ikner shared hateful comments about minorities and denied the 2020 election.
"He espoused the election denialism belief that Joe Biden was not the legitimate president, he said that Rosa Parks was in the wrong, he also talked about how Black people are ruining his neighborhood and Stonewell was bad for society. He would also talk about how multiculturalism is dangerous," Luzietti told NBC News Friday.
"Everyone [in the class] would just look at each other like, Did he really just say that?'" Luzietti recalled. "I got into an argument with him over the legitimacy of the 2020 election because I felt that one was especially dangerous to the fabric of our democracy."
In that class, Ikner had spoken about having a gun.
"He would joke about mass violence. I don't remember specific quotes but I know he would laugh about violence against minorities. And he did talk about how he used guns and had access to them," Luzietti said.
www.nbcnews.com
