Food service worker among Florida State University shooting victims

One of two people killed in an on-campus shooting at Florida State University was an employee of food service provider Aramark, the company said on Friday.

Authorities have not released the names of the victims, but relatives identified the Aramark employee as Robert Morales, a university dining worker. Doctors said six others injured in the attack were all expected to make a full recovery.

The alleged gunman, 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner, began shooting at around lunchtime on Thursday near the student union building in Tallahassee. The motive remains unclear.

The suspect allegedly used a gun owned by his stepmother, Jessica Ikner, a veteran police officer.

"We are heartbroken to confirm that an Aramark employee was among those killed at FSU yesterday in that senseless act of violence," the company, which manages Florida State University's on-campus dining programmes, said in a statement. "We are absolutely shaken by the news and our deepest sympathies are with the family and our entire Aramark community."

Robert Morales was identified as one of the dead victims by his sister, who posted a tribute online. His LinkedIn profile said he had been working at FSU as a university dining co-ordinator since 2015.

At a news conference on Friday, doctors at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare hospital said six people injured by gunshots were in stable condition, with one seriously injured.

Doctors said two of the victims would be released from hospital on Friday.

According to a police timeline, officers responded to an active shooter call shortly before midday local time on Thursday. An alert was issued warning students and those on campus to "seek shelter and await further instructions".

"One of my classmates got an alert on her phone and announced it to the rest of the class," student Ava Arenado told CBS News Miami.

Another student, Blake Leonard, told CBS he initially heard roughly 12 shots fired.

"In my head, I thought it was construction at first, until I looked behind me and saw people running from the union towards my direction, and then I heard another 12 or 15 shots go off, so I started running away from there too," he said.

The incident ended less than five minutes later when police shot Phoenix Ikner after he did not comply with their commands, authorities said. He was treated at a local hospital and remained in custody.

Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil described the suspect's stepmother Mrs Ikner, who worked as a school resource officer, as a "model employee".

He said the gun used in the shooting was a police-issued firearm that Mrs Ikner kept for personal use after the force upgraded its weapons. A shotgun was also found at the scene, police said.

The suspect was a "longstanding member" of the sheriff office's youth advisory council and was engaged in a number of training programmes, Sheriff McNeil said.

"So it is not a surprise that he had access to weapons," he said.

Court documents indicate that the alleged gunman was largely raised by his father and stepmother.

He was previously known as Christian Eriksen and was the subject of a long-running custody dispute between his biological mother and father. He had health issues including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a growth disorder, according to court documents.

The FSU student newspaper quoted the suspect commenting on an anti-Trump rally on campus in January.

FSUNews.com said Mr Ikner, who was registered to vote as a Republican, commented about anti-Trump protesters: "These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons."

President Donald Trump, who said he was briefed on the incident, called the shooting "a shame, a horrible thing".

When asked by reporters whether he wanted to change gun regulations in light of the shooting, he said he was a "big advocate" of the Second Amendment in the US Constitution, which protects gun rights.

"I have been since the beginning," he said. "I have protected it. These things are terrible. We will have more to say about it later."