Newly FSU Shooting Suspect Had Alarming Obsession with Hitler and Nazi Germany, Records Reveal
Newly uncovered online activity linked to Phoenix Ikner, the suspected gunman in the deadly Florida State University shooting, shows a disturbing fixation on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. The attack left two people dead and six injured.
Newly As the profile picture for an online gaming account. Analysts from the anti-hate organization also found that another one of Ikner’s accounts was named “Schutzstaffel,” referencing the notorious SS — the paramilitary force responsible for operating Nazi concentration camps and carrying out mass atrocities during the Holocaust.
Newly Extremism, regarding Phoenix Ikner’s apparent Nazi fascination. “They offer some insight into what he may have been thinking about or exploring.”
Newly These findings come just one day after the shooting, which began around 11:50 a.m. near Florida State University’s student union. The gunman opened fire, hitting several individuals and causing panic as students scrambled to find safety.
Newly Leon County Sheriff Walter A. McNeil confirmed that the weapon used in the Florida State University shooting belonged to the suspect’s stepmother, a veteran deputy with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. The alleged shooter, Phoenix Ikner, was injured during the incident and is expected to remain hospitalized for an extended period, according to Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell.
In the aftermath of Thursday’s attack, those familiar with Ikner described a troubling pattern of behavior. Several individuals reported that he frequently shared radical conspiracy theories and hateful views. One student political club president said Ikner was removed from the group after repeatedly expressing white supremacist rhetoric.
What Do the Latest Records Reveal?
New information from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reveals that Phoenix Ikner, a former politics student, frequently used terminology and imagery tied to white supremacist movements in both Nazi Germany and the United States.
Carla Hill, director of investigative research at the ADL’s Center on Extremism, said a team of roughly 20 researchers reviewed Ikner’s online activity after he was publicly identified by law enforcement as the suspected shooter. She explained that the group regularly examines the digital footprints of suspected mass shooters to identify any extremist ties—often working quickly before online platforms remove or deactivate the accounts.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), additional red flags in the Florida State University shooting case include Phoenix Ikner’s internet searches for terms like “scientific racism” and “national confederate flag.” The ADL obtained screenshots of these searches from Ikner’s frequent livestreams.
Investigators also linked another online account associated with Ikner to Patriot Front, a prominent white nationalist group that emerged after the deadly 2017 white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia. The account, which featured the group’s logo, was named “Rebel,” the records show.
Carla Hill of the ADL noted that Patriot Front is currently the largest and most active white supremacist organization in the U.S. “It’s just concerning,” she said. “What we’re seeing—if this individual did indeed hold extremist views, and it appears he was at least exposed to them—is the ongoing intersection of extremism with the glorification of violence, which too often escalates into real-world attacks.”
Experts point out that such behavior isn’t isolated. Many suspected or confirmed mass shooters have shown patterns of engaging with white supremacist rhetoric and extremist imagery online, underscoring a broader, troubling trend.
Other School Shooters Also Showed Extremist Ties, ADL Finds
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has identified similar patterns of extremism in other recent school shootings. In a January incident at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee, a 17-year-old student fatally shot a classmate before turning the gun on himself. According to the ADL, the shooter had a history of repeating Nazi and antisemitic rhetoric in his writings and frequently used “88” — a white supremacist numeric code for “Heil Hitler” — in his screen names.
In another case, the shooter in a December attack at a Madison, Wisconsin, high school, which left two dead and six injured, was also found to have shared white supremacist and antisemitic memes online. ADL researchers reported that his account bio featured the phrase “Totally normal day,” a coded reference often used by extremists to imply a violent, racist agenda—abbreviated as “TND,” with the “N” standing for a racial slur.
Ikner’s Views Were Known in Classrooms
The revelations about Phoenix Ikner’s extremist online behavior follow statements from classmates, who say he often voiced radical and hateful ideas during class discussions.
Former Classmates Recall Ikner’s Extremist Views and Troubling Behavior
According to a former classmate, Phoenix Ikner frequently promoted right-wing conspiracy theories and hateful beliefs.
Reid Seybold, a former student at Tallahassee State College who transferred to Florida State University around the same time as Ikner, also remembered their encounters. Speaking to NBC News, Seybold said they had both been members of a “political round table” club at their previous school.
“He was eventually asked to leave because of the hateful things he said,” Seybold recalled. “Our only real rule was no Nazis — informally speaking — and he pushed so much white supremacist and far-right rhetoric that we had to enforce that rule and remove him.”