TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Editors note: This story discusses details of a campus shooting. It may be distressing to some. Continue with care.<\/p>\n
Policing experts say FSU PD and other officers responded appropriately last year when they shot suspected school shooter Phoenix Ikner.<\/a><\/p>\n According to an official police timeline<\/a>, Ikner was shot less than ten minutes from the time he left the parking garage. <\/p>\n Experts say that\u2019s a sharp contrast to other high profile school shootings. <\/p>\n A longtime homicide detective who spoke to WCTV said the response at FSU was basically the opposite of what happened in Uvalde, TX. FSU Police officers did not wait, and did exactly what they were trained to do. <\/p>\n Body cam footage<\/a> shows Officer Cody Poppell shooting the suspected FSU gunman last April. According to policing experts, this is textbook. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to be a part of anything that\u2019s associated with Uvalde,\u201d said John Creamer, the deputy executive director for the Florida Deputy Sheriff\u2019s Association. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to happen while I\u2019m working. And I guarantee that all the first responders that were involved in Florida State that day said, \u201cNot today.\u201d So that\u2019s one of the first challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n Since Columbine, policing expert Dr. Lee Bushong said the protocol is to rush towards a school shooter, regardless of how many officers there are or how well the suspect is armed. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ll stop in one of three ways. Either they\u2019ll be confronted by an authority figure and they\u2019ll just drop the weapon and surrender, or they\u2019ll be neutralized like this guy was, or they\u2019ll neutralize themselves,\u201d said Dr. Bushong.<\/p>\n Experts say local law enforcement training was on display on April 17, 2025. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an old adage about we don\u2019t rise to the level of our training during an emergency. We sink to it,\u201d Creamer said. \u201cEverybody performed to task. There was nothing negative in the press, nothing. It was just a stellar response by everybody involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Bushong said the unknown \u201cfear\u201d some felt leading up to the shooting may actually have been a sign that many suppress. Members of a political debate club said the alleged shooter was open about his extremist beliefs. Thousands of messages with an AI chat bot appear to confirm that<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that gift of fear is actually alerting us that something\u2019s not right in the environment, and I would urge more people to pay attention to that. And if something\u2019s out of line, that\u2019s not going to hurt. Pick up the phone and call. You might be saving lives,\u201d Bushong said.<\/p>\n He added it is not uncommon to dismiss the uncommon as common.<\/p>\n \u201cIf something doesn\u2019t feel right, something looks out of place, for whatever reason, in our country, our culture, we\u2019re hesitant to say something. It\u2019s like we\u2019ll be labeled as a scaredy cat or something like that,\u201d Bushong said.<\/p>\n Experts say there are always things to learn from these crisis events. Many outside police officers responded to campus, but were not in consistent communication with dispatch. <\/p>\n To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, Nextdoor<\/a> <\/a>and X<\/a> (Twitter<\/a>).<\/p>\n Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here<\/a>. Please include the article\u2019s headline in your message.<\/p>\n Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click here<\/a> to get started.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n