TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Phones were buzzing with alerts about an active shooter at Florida State University on Thursday.
Students were told to shelter in place before law enforcement gave them the clearance to get escorted out of their classrooms with their hands above their heads.
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The fear of being close to yet another mass shooting at a school became a chilling reality seven years later for some Parkland shooting survivors on Thursday.
Josh Gallagher, a Parkland shooting survivor and FSU graduate student, posted on his X account that he was in the school’s library when he heard the active shooter alarm.
After living through the MSD shooting in 2018, I never thought it would hit close to home again. Then I’m in the FSU Law Library and hear on alarm: active shooter on campus. No matter your politics, we need to meet—and something has to change. Prayers to the victims and families.
— Josh Gallagher (@JoshBGallagher) April 17, 2025
Gallagher said he never thought this situation would hit close to home for a second time.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting took place on Feb. 14, 2018. It left 17 students and staff members dead.
On Thursday, two people who police said were not students were killed, and six other people were injured in the shooting on FSU’s campus in Tallahassee.
Police said the suspected shooter, who was identified as Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old student and son of a Leon County Sheriff’s Office deputy, was arrested and taken to the hospital after officers shot him.
In his post, Gallagher further stressed a call for change to prevent these tragedies from happening.
Several posts from parents of Parkland victims and others also poured in on X, formerly known as Twitter, expressing concern over the victims having to experience another mass shooting.
I’ve lived this in Parkland. Right now there are parents who can’t reach their kids. They are setting up reunification centers. There is confusing information. Parents wait for hours. And then they are told the worst news. It was the worst thing I ever witnessed in my life. https://t.co/JGh0tDCN5s
— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) April 17, 2025
The number of #Parkland survivors sharing that they have survived yet another shooting at #FSU breaks my heart to the core.
— Kris Brown | @KrisBrown.BradyUnited.org (@KrisB_Brown) April 17, 2025
Only in America.
As we await verified reports of the tragedy at Florida State, let’s hold the entire community in our thoughts.
America is broken. My daughter Jaime was murdered in the Parkland school shooting. Many of her friends who were lucky enough to survive that shooting went on to attend FSU. Incredibly, some of them were just a part of their 2nd school shooting and some were in the student…
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) April 17, 2025
I cannot even begin to explain the feeling of watching my sister go through a shooting on her campus today after we tried so hard to make it never again post parkland
— Delaney Tarr (@delaneytarr) April 17, 2025
Students continued to pour out support for the lives lost and those affected by the tragedy.
