FSU shooting suspect Phoenix Ikner’s sheriff deputy stepmom taught him how to handle guns: official

Suspected Florida State University shooter Phoenix Ikner learned how to handle guns from his sheriff deputy stepmother, according to the sheriff’s office where she works.

Ikner, 20, is accused of shooting two people dead and injuring five others at FSU’s Tallahassee campus Thursday. 

Video footage showed him seemingly targeting random people as they ran from the shooter stalking the area around the school’s bustling student union.

He was identified as the stepson of Leon County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jessica Ikner.

Jessica Ikner is taking a leave of absence from her job in the wake of the shooting, a spokeswoman for the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, told The Post.

LCSO spokeswoman Javonni Hampton confirmed reports that Phoenix had learned to handle guns from his stepmom

His family “exposed him to safety as it relates to utilizing firearms,” another sheriff’s deputy spokeswoman said earlier.

The department has publicly praised Jessica Ikner for having done a “tremendous job” as a deputy during her 18 years of service.

Phoenix Ikner was also a member of the sheriff office’s Youth Advisory Council, officials said Thursday.

Ikner belonged to a group designed to be an “opportunity for youth in our community to be able to express any concerns they had about crime prevention and safety and any of our initiatives, and for us to have an open dialog with youth in our community,” Hampton said. 

Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil said Ikner “had access” to his sheriff’s deputy stepmother’s weapons, and “that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene.”

But it was later made clear that the gun was not in active service for law enforcement, and had been purchased by Jessica Ikner for her personal use after she received a newer gun from the sheriff’s department, Hampton said.

McNeil said the practice was common.