13 things about Tallahassee, Florida’s Phoenix Ikner

Phoenix Ikner, formerly Christian Gunnar Eriksen, is a Norwegian-American man who grew up in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida, United States. The city is home to Swift Creek Middle School, Lincoln High School, Florida State University and Tallahassee State College.

In 2005, Myron De’Shawn May earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida State University. On March 21, 2014, he turned 31.

On November 20, 2014, May opened fire at the university’s library. Police officers fatally shot him after he refused to drop his weapon, a .380 semiautomic pistol.

More than 10 years later, Ikner allegedly opened fire inside the same university. He was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in political science at the university at the time.

Ikner “espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric and far-right rhetoric,” Reid Seybold told NBC News. The two knew each other from a political discussion group at Tallahassee State College, which is around 2.6 miles away from Florida State University.

BIOGRAPHY

Ikner is the only grandson of Lloyd McCarver and Lorene McCarver‘s daughter Sandra “Sandy” McCarver Ikner. Phoenix’s father Christopher Jason “Chris” Ikner is Sandy and Jerald Lewis Ikner‘s son.

Both Phoenix and his birth mother Anne-Mari Eriksen are dual citizens of the U.S. and Norway. She is Eigil Eriksen and Susan Eriksen‘s daughter.

When Anne-Mari was accused of kidnapping Phoenix in 2015, Chris told police that Phoenix has special needs and developmental delays. Phoenix
has had and continues to have a variety of serious medical problems, and has several doctors and specialists in Tallahassee that prescribe and monitor medications for several health and mental issues, according to court documents.

From 2002 to 2004, Phoenix’s stepmother Jessica Ann Burdette Ikner attended Florida State University. In 2006, she became a Leon County Sheriff’s Office deputy.

Phoenix rode the school bus in 6th and 7th grade but switched to a special education transportation option in 8th grade. He spent two years at Tallahassee State College before transferring to Florida State University.

Before becoming an accused mass shooter at age 20, Phoenix had an Instagram account with a Bible verse in his bio. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. From 2007 to 2023, his birth mother Anne-Mari was in custody disputes with his father.
2. In 2007, a court granted his father’s request to not allow him to relocate to Norway and barred his parents from leaving Florida with him without a court order.
3. In 2009, his father told the court in Leon County that he was worried about him because he repeatedly came into school with “sour” or “dirty” clothes, according to day care providers.
4. In 2010, his father married Jessica.
5. On June 3, 2012, his grandfather Eigil died in Tallahassee at age 82.
6. In 2015, Anne-Mari was arrested on a kidnapping charge after taking him with her to Norway without permission then included him as a plaintiff in a lawsuit she filed against Chris, Jessica, Jerald and Sandy, accusing them of libel and slander.
7. He lived primarily with his father and Jessica after Anne-Mari’s arrest in 2015.
8. In 2016, Anne-Mari was found guilty of removing him from the state of Florida and failing to return him and a judge dismissed the case she filed against Chris, Jessica, Jerald and Sandy.
9. In 2018, he graduated from Swift Creek Middle School and he entered Lincoln High School.
10. He made racist comments and denied the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Lucas Luzietti, who shared a government class with him at Tallahassee State College, told NBC News.
11. In 2020, during a hearing to change his name from Christian Gunnar Eriksen to Phoenix Ikner, the court found him to be “a mentally, emotionally and physically mature young adult”.
12. On August 18, 2024, he turned 20.
13. He was a long-standing member of the Youth Advisory Council of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office before being accused of mass shooting on April 17, 2025.

TIMELINE

Phoenix’s grandfather Jerald is an insurance agent operating out of Tallahassee. Jerald’s sister Janice Ikner Roberson is Mike Roberson‘s wife.

2010

• According to a court filing in March 2010, the court ordered that he undergo a psychological and psychiatric evaluation.

2013

• On January 2, 2013, he and his mother were in Key Biscayne, Miami-Dade County, Florida.

2015

• On March 19, 2015, his grandmother Susan drove him and Anne-Mari to Orlando, Florida and told his father they were going to Disney World but they instead took a flight to Norway.
• According to a probable cause affidavit in April 2015, he was on medication for several health and mental issues including a growth hormone disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
• According to a petition he and his father signed in July 2015 for injunction for domestic violence against Anne-Mari, she punched him in the chest and back and scratched him on his knee and Susan took photos of the scratches.

2018

• His birth mother is the appellant and his father is the appellee in a lawsuit in Florida that was decided on September 26, 2018.

2022

• On April 12, 2022, his birth mother took to Facebook to share photos of Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. She wrote in the caption, “4 generations of Christenings in my family here. My grandfather, dad, me, and my son, Christian Gunnar.”
• In May 2022, he graduated from Lincoln High School. 
• On July 25, 2022, he registered to vote in Leon County. He is affiliated with the Republican Party.

2023

• On March 10, 2023, his grandmother Sandy died at age 73.
• On December 2, 2023, his father’s grandmother Helen Marie James Ikner died at Decatur Morgan Hospital in Decatur, Alabama, USA at age 95.

2024

• In August 2024, his grandfather Jerald turned 77.

2025

• At around 11:50 a.m. on April 17, 2025, he allegedly used one of his mother’s former service pistols to open fire on the main campus of Florida State University, killing Robert Morales, 57, and Tiru Chabba, 45, and injuring six others in the vicinity of the university’s Student Union Building. Responding officers shot him after he refused to comply with their commands. He was arrested after being treated at a hospital.