Florida State cancels all athletic events, classes after mass shooting on campus

Florida State University canceled all athletic events through the end of the weekend after a mass shooting took place on campus on Thursday, the school announced.

Two people were killed and six others were injured when a student allegedly opened fire near the student union building on campus around noon on Thursday. The two people who were killed were not students at the university, though they have yet to be identified.

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The 20-year-old suspect, Phoenix Ikner, is the son of a Leon County Sheriff’s deputy, according to the New York Times. Ikner allegedly had access to his parent’s weapons. The school went under a shelter-in-place alert around 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, and it was lifted nearly 3 1/2 hours later. Police said they believe the gunman acted alone.

Both the Florida State baseball and softball teams were scheduled to host games in the coming days. The Seminoles baseball team was set to open a three-game series with Virginia on Thursday, and the softball team was going to host Georgia Tech on Friday. It’s unclear if those games are going to be rescheduled. The Seminoles’ football team also had two spring practices left.

Along with the athletic events, Florida State has canceled all classes, events and business operations through Friday. The last day of classes for the semester is next Friday.

The Miami Heat issued a statement in support of Florida State on Thursday.

“We are devastated by the senseless gun violence that claimed innocent lives in our state,” the Heat said. “Many members of our Heat family are Florida State alumni as well as parents of current students, some of whom had chairs wedged under their dorm doors to barricade themselves inside.

“Those students should be preparing for finals, not wondering if they should prepare to say their final goodbyes.

“How many more of these events must take place before meaningful reform is enacted to end this epidemic?”

Several other universities and teams from across the state also issued similar statements.

Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley addressed the shooting unprompted on Thursday ahead of their playoff series with the Boston Celtics, too.

“This is the opportunity right now to talk about putting things in perspective,” Mosley said, via The Associated Press. “What’s going on at Florida State … I just want to send thoughts, prayers that things are handled speedily and that we can just continue to pray for those that have been impacted by this.

“Lives are more important, and human beings are more important, than a basketball game or a playoff series at any given time. And that’s what we need to continually remember in these moments right now.”