Live updates: Vigil planned to honor victims of FSU shooting. Here's how victims are doing
A suspect, the 20-year-old son of a Leon County deputy, was shot by campus police when he didn't respond to commands to surrender, according to Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell.
Officials said the gunman, identified as Phoenix Ikner, began firing near the student union building shortly before noon and the FSU Alert system warned of an active shooter and to seek shelter. A massive response by law enforcement followed.
➤ FSU shooting timeline: See how the mass shooting unfolded
All classes at the Tallahassee campus are canceled for April 18 and all athletic events were canceled through April 20 as the investigation continues.
Students gathered around makeshift memorials Thursday night, April 17, bringing flowers, letters and teddy bears. Others left letters and lit candles to honor the victims and comfort the survivors.
The university plans to hold a vigil for the victims at 5 p.m. April 18, at Langford Green in front of the Unconquered Statue.
Here's what is happening today.
Tallahassee police said Phoenix Ikner opened fire near the student union of Florida State University's Tallahassee campus, killing two people and injuring six more before officers arrived.
➤ Who is Phoenix Ikner? FSU shooting suspect was son of deputy, espoused radical ideas
Details are still trickling out, officials said Ikner, 20, is the son of a veteran Leon County sheriff's deputy, and he used her gun in the shootings.
Ikner is a political science student at FSU known by other classmates for espousing extremist conspiracy theories and hateful ideas.
9:03 a.m., April 18: Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare issued a statement about the shooting victims.
"We are grateful for the outpouring of support for our emergency, trauma, and nursing teams. We are honored to be the hospital providing care to these patients.
"Patient update as of 9 a.m. April 18, 2025: Two patients are expected to be discharged today. Three have improved and are in good condition. One remains in fair condition."
10:15 p.m. April 17: The campus community will be able to retrieve personal belongings from select campus buildings between 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday, April 18. Be prepared to produce a photo ID to claim your belongings.
All campus buildings will be locked but university faculty, staff, and volunteers will be on site at each of the following locations to assist individuals with claiming their belongings:
Bellamy Building
EAOS Building
Carothers Building
Dirac Science Library
FSU Student Union
Strozier Library
HCB Classroom Building
Leach Center
Longmire Building
Love Building
Montgomery Hall
Moore Auditorium
Rovetta Business A&B
Thagard Building
If your belongings were left in another campus building not on this list, or if you are unable to retrieve your belongings on Friday, please call 850-644-4444 between to 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to schedule assistance.
9:30 p.m., April 17: The university will open a Support Center at the Askew Student Life Center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 18. Counseling and Victim's Advocate services will be available, and staff will be on hand to answer questions and provide assistance.
The FBI has set up a tip line for anyone with information about the shooting that happened at FSU.
Anyone with video or audio media related to the incident, can upload it here.
This story was updated to add new information.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU shooting suspect: Updates, vigils, victim info
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On trial: Who is Donna Adelson, matriarch of family implicated in Dan Markel murder?
The quest for justice for an acclaimed Florida State University law professor and the trial of Donna Adelson is set to begin once again in a Florida capital city courtroom. More than ten years ago, two hired Miami killers fatally shot Dan Markel in his Tallahassee garage. The contract killing came after an acrimonious divorce and a court ruling that his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, couldn't relocate from Tallahassee with their children to be with the rest of her family in South Florida. So far, Markel's former brother-in-law, Charlie Adelson, Adelson's former girlfriend Katherine Magbanua, and the two men Adelson hired have all been sentenced to prison in connection with the murder-for-hire plot. The complicated, sensational case, which The Tallahassee Democrat has chronicled from the beginning, involved lengthy investigations by Tallahassee police and the FBI, a confession, wiretaps, recorded conversations, four trials, features on Dateline and 20/20, and was the subject of a popular true-crime podcast. The matriarch of the prominent South Florida family implicated in the conspiracy will be back in the spotlight Aug. 19 after her 2024 trial was derailed. In September of that year, on the first day of jury selection, Adelson's lead attorney, Dan Rashbaum of Miami, abruptly withdrew – a move that upended the trial before it could begin. All three of her attorneys exited or were removed after Charlie Adelson, who is appealing his conviction, announced he would not waive any conflicts of interest involving Rashbaum's representation of him during his trial last year and his mother. Donna Adelson has since hired two local attorneys: A former prosecutor turned judge and a well-known local lawyer to represent her. Here's what we know. Who is Donna Adelson? Donna Sue Adelson, 74, is married to Dr. Harvey Adelson, retired dentist and founder of the Adelson Institute for Aesthetics and Implant Dentistry in Tamarac, Florida. She has three children, Charlie, Wendi and Rob, a physician who has been estranged from the family for years. One week after Charlie Adelson was found guilty last year, Donna and Harvey Adelson were stopped at Miami International Airport before they could board a one-way flight to Vietnam, a non-extradition country. Donna Adelson was arrested and indicted on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the 2014 killing, citing jailhouse calls she made to Charlie after his sentencing saying she was putting her financial affairs in order and planning to leave, either through self-harm or by getting out of the country. Adelson has pleaded not guilty. Adelson is the second member of her family and the fifth person to be charged in connection to the Dan Markel contract killing. What happened to Dan Markel? Daniel Eric Markel, 41 at the time of his death, was a Canadian-born Florida State law professor, author and prominent legal scholar. He was married to fellow FSU professor Wendi Adelson and they had two young sons, but they separated in 2012 and battled through an extremely acrimonious and bitter divorce in 2013. Markel pulled into his garage in Tallahassee after running errands on July 18, 2014, when two men approached him and shot him twice in the head. He died the next day. How it all began: FSU law professor dies in shooting Over nearly 10 years of investigations, wiretapping, and testimony, prosecutors have said Markel's killing was the result of a murder-for-hire plot involving Donna Adelson, her son Charlie (a periodontist at the family business), Charlie's girlfriend at the time Katherine Magbanua, and the hitmen, Latin Kings gang leader Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia, who is also the father of Magbanua's children. Why was Dan Markel murdered? For the shooters, cash. Rivera testified that he and Garcia were paid $100,000 in a murder-for-hire plot. They received the money in stacks of stapled hundred dollar bills the next day and they split it with Katherine Magbanua, who Rivera said set up the deal. In Charlie Adelson's trial, prosecutors said Markel's murder 'stemmed from the desperate desire of the Adelson family' for Wendi and the two sons to have the freedom to move to South Florida to be near her family. In 2012, while Markel was away, Adelson had moved out of their house with the children and most of the couple's possessions and left divorce papers on the bed, according to court filings. Markel won 50/50 custody and an order prohibiting Adelson from moving them away in the divorce, and the two parents battled in court for months over every detail of their children's lives. In 2014, Markel filed motions claiming Adelson had misrepresented her financial assets and had taken a 2-caret ring belonging to Markel's great-aunt, a Holocaust survivor. He also filed a motion to prevent the children's grandmother Donna from having unsupervised time with them after hearing she was making disparaging remarks about him to the children. How many people have been found guilty in the Dan Markel murder? To date, four people have been found guilty in the conspiracy. Rivera, who was already doing time on an unrelated charge, took a deal and received a 19-year sentence. Garcia, who Rivera said pulled the trigger, was sentenced to life in prison in 2019, as was Magbanua in her 2022 trial. Charlie Adelson was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in 2023. Luis Rivera: Rivera pled guilty in 2016 to second-degree murder in exchange for a 19-year sentence to run concurrently with a federal sentence on an unrelated case for his statements and cooperation with prosecutors. In 2019 he testified that he was with Garcia when Markel was murdered. Sigfredo Garcia: In October 2019, Sigfredo Garcia was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Katherine Magbanua: After her potential conviction as part of Garcia's trial was ruled a mistrial, Magbanua was tried again in 2022 and was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder. She is currently serving life in prison. Charlie Adelson: A 12-person jury deliberated for three hours in November 2023 and found Adelson guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. He was sentenced to life in prison. Donna Adelson: A week after Charlie Adelson was found guilty, his parents Donna and Harvey were stopped in Miami International Airport trying to board a flight with one-way tickets to Vietnam, a country that does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S. What was Donna Adelson charged with? Donna Adelson was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in Markel's murder, the same charges her son Charlie was found guilty of by a jury in just three hours. What is the evidence against Donna Adelson? Much of the likely evidence has appeared in the previous trials. The Tallahassee Police Department suggested that Donna Adelson was a prime suspect in the Markel murder back in 2016 when TPD initially presented probable cause affidavits to the State Attorney's Office. At the time, State Attorney Willie Meggs dismissed them as speculation. Investigations over the next nine years revealed: Prosecutors said Donna and Harvey Adelson repeatedly tried to convince Wendi to coerce Markel into allowing her to move their sons to South Florida, with Donna suggesting they offer Markel $1 million to change his mind. Donna suggested that Wendi threaten to enroll the children of the devoutly Jewish Markel in a Catholic school, according to Donna Adelson's arrest affidavit. Markel also filed a motion to prevent Donna from having unsupervised time with the children after hearing about disparaging remarks she was making about him to the children. According to the arrest affidavit, cellular records showed "numerous contacts" between Magbanua, Charlie Adelson and Garcia before and after the killing, and contact between Garcia and a phone registered to Harvey Adelson. Charlie also frequently contacted Donna before and after Markel's death. Wendi Adelson told investigators the day of the murder that her brother had joked it would be cheaper to buy her a TV as a divorce gift than hire a hitman. From roughly 460 miles away, Donna arranged a television repair appointment for Wendi the morning of the homicide. At Charlie Adelson's trial, Magbanua testified that when she went to his home the night of the killing he told her his parents had just left, leaving behind money "that his mom had washed," the affidavit said. She said the money was damp and moldy. After the murder, Magbanua received more than $17,000 in paychecks from the Adelson's practice, handwritten and signed by Donna, from September 2014 to at least April 2016, prosecutors said, on top of her portion of the money for the killing and over $56,000 in cash. She also was sold Charlie Adelson's Lexus, which was registered to Harvey Adelson, for $1,700. In 2016, an undercover agent contacted Donna Adelson with a letter about the murder and demanded $5,000. She contacted Charlie to discuss the threat. In a later call, when Charlie asked what the letter was for, she said, "This TV is probably about five," meaning $5,000, according to the affidavit. After he visited both his parents for a huddled conversation, Charlie took Magbanua to the Dolce Vita restaurant to complain about the would-be blackmailer, what he knew, and what Charlie would do about it. That conversation was recorded and became key evidence in Charlie's trial. One of the things he told Magbanua was, "if they had any evidence we would have already gone to the airport." After the meeting, Charlie called Donna to report that he was handling everything. After another letter and a text were sent to Donna Adelson by investigators, there were multiple calls and meetings between Charlie and his parents. Donna called the undercover agent and denied all knowledge. Another of Charlie Adelson's girlfriends, June Umchinda, told the FBI that after Rivera and Garcia were charged with murder Charlie and Donna Adelson both seemed more stressed, and Donna told her that she felt "Dan Markel was haunting her from the grave," the affidavit said. After Charlie Adelson's guilty verdict, Donna called him in jail several times and told him she was "getting things in order, creating trusts, and making sure her grandchildren are taken care of," the affidavit said. She also discussed plans for suicide and plans to flee to a non-extradition country. 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Charlie Adelson, who testified in his own defense last year that he was being extorted by the two killers through his then-girlfriend and that his mom was subsequently the victim of a ruse blackmail operation by the FBI, was transported from a South Dakota prison and booked Friday into the Leon County Detention Facility. He could potentially testify for the defense. It is unknown if Donna Adelson will take the stand in her own defense. Other key witnesses include Pat Sanford, the FBI agent who arrested Donna Adelson, and Oscar Jiminez, the retired FBI agent who posed as a Latin Kings gang buddy of Rivera when he confronted Donna Adelson outside her Miami condo. Have Harvey or Wendi Adelson been charged? Wendi Adelson, who has denied involvement with the murder and testified under immunity at several trials, has not been charged. State Attorney Jack Campbell told the Tallahassee Democrat that the state did not have the evidence to arrest Harvey Adelson, but had enough to arrest Donna Adelson. Her attempted flight overseas sped things up and pushed law enforcement 'to make a decision quickly,' Campbell said. 'That's what forced our hand,' Campbell said. "We started talking to some of our law enforcement partners about the complexities of trying to bring someone back from either Dubai or Vietnam. And that might be a very complicated and lengthy process. So that's why we had to make a decision quickly." The day after the arrest, investigators seized two phones and an iPad from Harvey Adelson. GAVEL-TO-GAVEL COVERAGE: The Tallahassee Democrat will livestream each day of the trial of Donna Adelson from the courthouse in Tallahassee. Watch on and the Tallahassee Democrat's Facebook and YouTube pages. For best viewing experience: Download the Tallahassee Democrat app to watch and receive text alerts on when to watch – from opening arguments to the verdict. Tallahassee Democrat reporter Jeff Burlew contributed to this article. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Who's Donna Adelson? What to know about new trial in Dan Markel murder
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Billboards in Tallahassee spotlight rising antisemitism on college campuses
New and returning college students and other campus community members are getting 'provocative' greetings about antisemitism from above the streets of Tallahassee. Four pink and white billboards with slogans such as 'Being Jewish shouldn't require campus security' have recently been put up near Florida State University and in other areas of the capital by a national nonprofit organization called JewBelong. The aim: Raise awareness of on-campus antisemitism. Classes at FSU start Aug. 25. All the billboards are scheduled to be displayed much of fall semester, from Aug. 18 to Nov. 10, according to a release. The slogans and their locations are: 'Being Jewish shouldn't require campus security.' (W. Tennessee St. & Caliark St.; West Tennessee and Bronough streets.) 'Jewish students don't need your pity. Just your spine.' (E. Park Ave. & Magnolia Drive) 'You don't need to be a Jew to protect Jews.' (Mahan and Spottsware Drives.) 'It's a terrifying time to be a Jewish college student,' JewBelong Co-Founder Archie Gottesman said in the organization's Aug. 18 release. 'Jewish students do not feel safe and are up against some of the worst antisemitism of our lifetime. The Jewish community is only 2% of the entire country, so we need to work extra hard to break through to the wider American public.' The initiative comes after an antisemitic harassment case at FSU resulted in a university employee and graduate student, facing a misdemeanor battery charge. In a short video that went viral on social media, an altercation between the woman and a Jewish student showed her flipping off and yelling at a man sitting inside the Leach Student Recreation Center on campus before apparently shoving the man. More: FSU grad student employee faces misdemeanor battery charge after 'antisemitic harassment' In a statement following the incident, the university said that it 'strongly condemns antisemitism in all forms and follows Florida law, which protects Jewish students and employees from discrimination motivated by antisemitism, harassment, intimidation and violence.' Although the 'thought-provoking' billboard messages follow the recent presence of antisemitism on FSU's campus, the campaign is part of a larger nationwide initiative targeting 13 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One football campuses, according to a JewBelong spokesperson. Those institutions also include the University of Florida. The New York City-based organization, which focuses on fighting antisemitism and making Judaism accessible, put the billboards up ahead of FSU's Aug. 30 football season opener on campus against the University of Alabama. 'Schools need to do better,' Gottesman said in the release. 'Jewish students deserve to be safe on campus.' The college campuses with billboard slogans near them are: University of Oklahoma University of Mississippi University of Alabama University of Florida Florida State University University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University of Kansas Louisiana State University University of Michigan Clemson University Pennsylvania State University University of Utah University of Wisconsin-Madison Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at tjean@ Follow her on X: @tarahjean_. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU students to see bold messages on antisemitism as classes begin Solve the daily Crossword
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FSU grad student employee faces misdemeanor battery charge after 'antisemitic harassment'
A case of "antisemitic harassment" at Florida State University – which made it all the way to the U.S. attorney general's office – has resulted in a misdemeanor battery charge. The short video that went viral on social media captured an altercation between a woman, who is an FSU employee and graduate student, and a Jewish student. The woman is seen flipping off and yelling at a man sitting inside the Leach Student Recreation Center before apparently shoving the man. According to recently released court records, a misdemeanor battery charge was brought against the employee Aug. 4. The Tallahassee Democrat does not typically name individuals charged with misdemeanors. An advocacy group, Stop Anti-Semitism, started ciruclating the video and flagged FSU President Richard McCullough on the social media post saying the "assault warrants immediate expulsion." The university immediately responded to the post, condemning the act and assuring the public that the incident would be investigated. As the video spread on social media, FSU released another statement saying that the woman shown in the video "has been prohibited from returning to campus" and that charges may be forthcoming. Under the university's protocol, the altercation will be investigated by law enforcement first, then the university will take disciplinary action. The woman will be prohibited from campus until both investigations and disciplinary proceedings are complete, FSU spokesperson Amy Farnum Patronis said. Potential discipline could range from a writen reprimand to expulsion. Court records detail the encounter between the two, offering insight from each of their perspectives. 'She definitely just hate crimed me' The FSU student told police that he had just finished working out and bought a drink from the gym's in-house juice bar when out of nowhere the woman approached him and started tellling him that he was "part of a mass genocide" and "killing people," according to court records. "I was in shock," the student told police. "I didn't understand what she was saying." As he tried to ignore her, he said the woman continued to tell him he was killing people and his "family needs to die" because he was wearing an Israel Defense Forces shirt. He said that she tried grabbing his drink and sort of shoved him after she made the comment that she would pour his drink on his head if they weren't inside the on-campus gym. "But I kind of just pushed her hand away," he said. "She definitely just hate crimed me." The student said she "started screaming, '[expletive] you, the whole gym, you need to go to hell, I hope your whole family dies" as she left the gym, which is depicted in the viral video. In the 8-second clip, the woman is seen approaching and yelling at the student "Expletive] Israel, free Palestine," the woman says as she appears to bump the man or bat the phone away. "Put it on [expletive] Barstool FSU, I really don't give a [expletive]. You're an ignorant [expletive] son of a [expletive]." 'I'm very offended by it' The woman was on a spin bike, which has a view of the gym, when she spotted the man's shirt that she said she found to be "very offensive," according to court records. "I just got very upset and went down and expressed my First Amendment rights, freedom of speech, and talked to them," she told investigators. She said that she told the student he "should be ashamed" to support an army "committing severe human rights violations," as she sees photos every day of starving people and Palestinians, and "I'm very offended by it." The student, she said, began recording her as he was telling her she was "uneducated" and didn't know what she was talking about. At this point during the altercation, the woman admitted to cursing at him as seen in the video. The woman "advised she understands that she should not have handled this incident in the manner she did, and she is very embarassed," court records say. "She also displayed being very apologetic and was willing to apologize to him for her actions." Investigators asked if any extra footage, such as security cameras in the gym, would show her possibly shoving the student, and she denied ever touching him. The detective asked again if it was possible that she could have shoved him while trying to grab his smoothie to which she said, "No, I did not shove him at all; I never put my hands on him." "When I left out of Leach, I knew that was a bad idea," she told police. Survelliance footage captures similar interaction as viral clip The FSU investigator noted in court records that the woman appears to hit the man's shoulder in the viral video, causing him to lean back in a "defensive manner as if he was pushed." In his review of the gym's survelliance camera footage, the investigator saw a similar interaction as recorded in the video circulating on the internet. The woman "appears to touch [the man's] left shoulder in a shoving motion while trying to attempt to reach for his beverage," court records say. The man "can be observed leaning back in a reactionary and defensive manner while lifting his left arm up to protect himself." After that, the woman is seen walking away to grab her belongings and saying something to the gym employee as she left. The gym worker told police that he didn't even realize any argument occurred until she approached him. He said the woman said it was "unfair" and asked why they let the student in with the shirt on. The worker "advised he just let [the woman] vent, and she left the premises without any further incident." After asking the gym employee for guidance, the student immediately reported what happened. FSU said in its statement that its "commitment to swiftly and effectively respond to incidents of hate is unwavering." "We appreciate the prompt report of this incident, which allowed us to address this instance of antisemitism without delay," the university said. The viral moment even drew attention from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi who responded to FSU over social media and thanked the university for its "prompt action." 'Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Florida or anywhere else,' she wrote, adding that civil rights officials in the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney Jack Heekin of the Northern District of Florida would also investigate. Local government watchdog reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@ Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State employee charged after viral 'antisemitic' altercation Solve the daily Crossword
