FSU Student Recounts Encounter with Campus Shooting Suspect

Campus Shooting at Florida State University

• 🎯 A mass shooting occurred near the FSU student union, resulting in two fatalities and five injuries.
• ⚠️ Students inside classrooms scrambled to evacuate, with some encountering police officers holding weapons.
• 🚨 Authorities identified the suspect as 20-year-old Phenix Eichner, a student and son of a sheriff's deputy.

Witness Account of the Attack

• 💥 A student witnessed the gunman waving a shotgun and firing shots in their direction as they walked away from the union.
• 🏃‍♀️ The witness described seeing the gunman grab a handgun from his car and shoot a woman in the back.
• 😨 Students barricaded themselves in classrooms, hearing gunshots and attempts to open their locked doors.

Suspect's Past and Potential Motives

• 📰 The suspect, Phenix Eichner, was quoted in the student newspaper discussing anti-Trump demonstrators and the concept of revolt.
• 🔒 His social media was private, but a quote from his Instagram read, "This is my war club," referencing a biblical passage about smiting enemies.
• 🔍 Law enforcement is investigating potential motives by examining his mother, computers, phones, and social media accounts.

Encounter in Extracurricular Group

• 🗣️ Reid Seybold, an FSU senior, encountered the suspect in an extracurricular political club a few years prior.
• 💬 Eichner reportedly made others uncomfortable by discussing the "ravages of multiculturalism and communism" and how they were "ruining America."
• 🧐 Seybold disagreed with another student's assessment that the suspect was merely conservative and "pretty normal," stating Eichner went "beyond conservatism."