FSU Student Recounts Campus Shooting, Suspect's White Supremacist Views

Campus Lockdown Experience

• 🔒 Reid Seybold, an FSU senior, describes being barricaded in a classroom during the campus shooting, fearing for his life.
• 😨 He recounts the terrifying experience of locking doors, turning off lights, and hearing attempts to enter, including what they initially feared was the shooter but turned out to be police.
• 💬 During the lockdown, Seybold sent texts to loved ones, including his boyfriend and an extended family group chat, expressing his love in case he didn't survive.
• 🩸 While being evacuated, Seybold and others saw blood in the hallways, highlighting the immediate aftermath of the violence.

Connection to the Suspect

• 🎯 Seybold reveals he knew the alleged shooter, Phoenix Ikner, from a political club at Tallahassee State College.
• 🗣️ He states that Ikner was removed from the club due to espousing white supremacist and alt-right rhetoric.
• ⚠️ Seybold notes that Ikner continued to express these views at Florida State University, even making comments like Rosa Parks being in the wrong.
• 🔫 While Seybold, who is also conservative and carries a gun, didn't foresee physical violence, he acknowledges Ikner's interest in guns.

Moving Forward After Trauma

• 🤝 Seybold emphasizes the importance of community and support systems, like his close friends and boyfriend, in coping with the event.
• 🤔 He expresses uncertainty about how students will return to classes on Monday, highlighting the collective shock and the difficulty of processing the event.
• 🌱 The FSU community is focused on moving forward together, relying on their support networks to navigate the aftermath of the shooting.