A tragic shooting unfolded at Florida State University, casting a shadow over the campus and evoking painful memories for those affected by past school shootings. Among them, Stephanie Horowitz, now a graduate student at the university, recalled the haunting silence that followed the event, reminiscent of the aftermath of the Parkland massacre she experienced as a teenager at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School seven years ago.
On Thursday, a 20-year-old man, identified as Phoenix Ikner, opened fire near a student union building around lunchtime, resulting in the deaths of two individuals and injuries to six others. Ikner, a student and the son of a sheriff’s deputy, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. The incident led Florida State University to cancel all on-campus sports events through the weekend.
Florida State student Logan Rubenstein, who endured the Parkland shooting as a middle schooler, expressed determination to prevent such tragedies, lamenting the recurrence of violence. The Parkland shooting, which claimed 17 lives on Valentine’s Day in 2018, remains one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
Jaclyn Schildkraut, affiliated with the Rockefeller Institute of Government, emphasized the prolonged emotional impact multiple school shootings can have on survivors, setting back their healing journey. Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter was a victim in Parkland, experienced renewed panic upon learning of the Florida State shooting, where her son Robbie is a student. He had fortuitously left the student union shortly before the attack.
Alhadeff expressed her distress over the normalization of such violence, advocating for change to prevent future tragedies. The community mourns the lives lost and remains resolute in seeking solutions to mitigate the recurrence of such events.
