{"id":223360,"date":"2026-04-08T12:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223360\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:53:07","slug":"chapgpt-helped-florida-state-university-gunman-plan-mass-shooting-victims-attorney-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223360\/","title":{"rendered":"ChapGPT helped Florida State University gunman plan mass shooting, victim’s attorney claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

The gunman who killed two people and wounded six others<\/a> at Florida State University last year may have used ChatGPT to help plan the mass shooting, according to one of the victim\u2019s attorneys planning to file a lawsuit against the chatbot\u2019s maker, OpenAI.<\/p>\n

The AI \u201cmay have advised the shooter how to commit these heinous crimes,\u201d according to the law firm representing the family of Robert Morales, an Aramark worker and father of one<\/a> who was shot dead by alleged shooter Phoenix Ikner on the Tallahassee campus in April 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been advised that the shooter was in constant communication with ChatGPT leading up to the shooting,\u201d Brooks, LeBoeuf, Foster, Gwartney and Hobbs told WCTV in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Phoenix Ikner is accused of killing two people and wounding six others in a mass shooting at Florida State University in April. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have reason to believe that ChatGPT may have advised the shooter how to commit these heinous crimes. We will therefore file suit against ChatGPT, and its ownership structure, very soon, and will seek to hold them accountable for the untimely and senseless death of our client, Mr. Morales,\u201d the firm said.<\/p>\n

There are more than 270 images of ChatGPT conversations listed as exhibits in the case. <\/p>\n

However, the content of the messages has not been revealed, court records show.<\/p>\n

OpenAI said it \u201cidentified a ChatGPT account believed to be associated with the suspect\u201d shortly after the shooting and \u201cproactively shared this information with law enforcement and cooperated with authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built ChatGPT to understand people\u2019s intent and respond in a safe and appropriate way, and we continue improving our technology,\u201d the spokesperson told the outlet.<\/p>\n

Ikner, who was enrolled at the public college at the time of the shooting, opened fire with a service pistol that belonged to his stepmother<\/a>, Leon County Sheriff\u2019s Office Deputy Jessica Ikner. <\/p>\n

He also had a shotgun, but did not appear to have used it during the rampage.<\/p>\n

Students are released from Lockdown at Florida State University last year after the shooting rampage on April 17, 2025. Stefano Mussi via Storyful<\/p>\n

Ikner if charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and more. Leon County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

Morales\u2019 lawyers told the sheriff\u2019s office in a letter in September that it could also be held liable, as Ikner was allowed to participate in LCSO\u2019s Youth Advisory Council, where he \u201cwas allegedly taught about firearms and displayed behavior that should\u2019ve raised concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Ikner was not mentally stable and should not be around guns, much less taught how to use them,\u201d the law firm wrote in its letter to LCSO. \u201cThe Leon County Sheriff\u2019s Office\u2019s handling of Mr. Ikner, as described more fully herein, was at least part of the cause of the murder of Mr. Robert Morales.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ikner began shooting outside of FSU\u2019s student union before noon on April 17, 2025. Morales, 57, from Tallahassee, and another Aramark vendor Tiru Chabba<\/a>, 45, from Greenville, South Carolina, were both killed, according to officials.<\/p>\n

Six other students were wounded in the shooting before police quickly shot Ikner, leaving his face badly disfigured<\/a>, and took him into custody. <\/p>\n

The motive for the shooting is unclear, and investigators have said Ikner did not appear to have any connections to the victims.<\/p>\n

He is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and other related charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The gunman who killed two people and wounded six others at Florida State University last year may have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4038,89995,28,30,29,1422,66460,84314,24738,4278],"class_list":{"0":"post-223360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-chatgpt","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-florida-state-university","14":"tag-mass-shootings","15":"tag-openai","16":"tag-school-shootings","17":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}