2 dead as police officer's son opens fire at university

MIAMI — A mass shooting allegedly carried out by the son of a local deputy sheriff with her old service weapon left two people dead at a university in Florida, police in the southeastern US state said on Thursday.

Five people were hospitalized when the gunman, identified as Phoenix Ikner, rampaged through Florida State University, shooting at students, before he was shot at and injured by local law enforcement.

The campus was locked down as gunfire erupted, with students ordered to shelter in place as first responders swarmed the site moments after the lunchtime shootings.

Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil told reporters that Ikner, 20, was a student at the university and the son of an "exceptional" 18-year member of his staff members.

"Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene," he said.

McNeil added that the suspect was part of Sheriff's Office training programs, meaning "it's not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons".

Ikner was taken to hospital after being shot at. His condition was not immediately known.

Bystander footage aired by CNN appeared to show a young man walking on a lawn and shooting at people who were trying to get away.

Witnesses spoke of chaos as people began running through the sprawling campus as shots rang out near the student union.

"Everyone just started running out of the student union," a witness named Wayne told local news station WCTV. "About a minute later, we heard about eight to 10 gunshots."

The eyewitness said he saw one man who appeared to have been shot in the midsection.

The two people who died were not students, police said, but refused to give further details.

The university, a public institution with more than 40,000 students, canceled all classes and told students who did not live on campus to leave.

The university's President Richard McCullough said the university was working to support those affected by the attack.

"This is a tragic day for Florida State University," he said.

Mass shootings are common in the United States, where a constitutional right to bear arms trumps demands for stricter rules.

That is despite widespread public support for tighter control on firearms, including restricting the sale of high-capacity clips and limiting the availability of automatic weapons of war.

A tally by the non-profit Gun Violence Archive shows there have been at least 81 mass shootings, which it defines as four or more people shot, in the United States so far this year.

Agencies Via Xinhua