The suspect arrested after two people were shot dead and six were injured on a Florida campus had a tumultuous childhood, according to reports.
Phoenix Ikner, 20, was described by Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil after the attack on Thursday as the son of one of his deputies, Jessica Ikner. McNeil said the suspect had used her weapon to carry out the shooting at Florida State University (FSU)’s Tallahassee campus.
But reports have now emerged of court records stating that Ikner’s birth name was Christian Gunnar Eriksen and that another woman, Anne-Mari Eriksen, is his biological mother.
Eriksen – who, like her son, is said to have dual U.S.-Norwegian citizenship – appears to have separated from the boy’s father Christopher Ikner but allegedly ran into trouble in March 2015 when she took the boy to Norway without the latter’s consent, in violation of their custody arrangments.
“Instead of staying in South Florida, the defendant allegedly fled the country with him in violation of their custody agreement,” an affidavit cited by ABC News states.
“Mr Ikner advised that Christian has developmental delays and has special needs which he feared would not be taken care of without access to his doctors here in the United States.”
The affidavit also records that the child was on medication for “several health and mental issues, to include a growth hormone disorder and ADHD.”
Anne-Mari Eriksen was arrested when she returned to the U.S. via Fort Lauderdale Airport the following July and subsequently pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 200 days in jail, 170 of which she had already served, followed by two years of “community control” and two years of probation, according to the records.
She was ordered to have no contact with her son during that time but later attempted to vacate her plea, saying it had been made under duress, only for her appeal to be denied.
An October 2015 lawsuit she filed against Christopher and Jessica Ikner accused them of slander and libel and sought $80,000 in damages for the boy’s college fund also failed.
Christian Eriksen was 10 years old at the time of his ordeal, reports claim. He subsequently attended Lincoln High School and changed his name to Phoenix Ikner, according to CNN.
According to The Daily Mail, Anne-Mari Eriksen posted on Facebook on Thursday attacking her son’s father and new partner for their parenting and failure to communicate with her about the incident at FSU before subsequently deleting the message.
“Horrible when your alienating son’s dad... along with his LCSO cop wife can’t respond when you write to ask if everything is alright with my son, who studies ar [sic] FSU,” the Mail quotes her as writing.
Classmates have meanwhile come forward in response to Thursday’s tragic events to allege that Ikner had become interested in far-right politics that went “beyond conservatism” and was a fervent supporter of Donald Trump.
Reid Seybold, former president of a Tallahassee State political discussion group that Ikner had been part of, said some of his statements, which included promoting white supremacy, had left other members of the club feeling uncomfortable and ultimately led to his expulsion.
“He had continually made enough people uncomfortable where certain people had stopped coming,” Seybold told NBC News.
“That’s kind of when we reached the breaking point with Phoenix, and we asked him to leave.
“It’s been a couple of years now. I can’t give exact quotes. He talked about the ravages of multiculturalism and communism and how it’s ruining America.”
No motive has yet been revealed for Phoenix Ikner’s actions. An Instagram account attributed to him has been taken offline.
It contained an ominous quote from the Bible’s Book of Jeremiah that read: “You are my war club, my weapons for battle, with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms.”
