Phoenix Ikner has been accused of entering Florida State University (FSU) and carrying out a deadly mass shooting, which killed two people and injured six others. Now, Ikner's grandmother, similar to her daughter, Ikner's biological mother, has lashed out against the 20-year-old's father and stepmother.
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In an interview with the Daily Mail, 79-year-old Susan Eriksen blamed the Ikner family for negatively influencing Phoenix, whom she labeled the "sweetest kids."
"They taught him how to hunt, they're bigoted people, they hated a lot of people," Susan told the outlet.
The bigotry mentioned by Susan apparently connects to the claims that accuse Phoenix Ikner of sharing white supremacist views. While the motive is still unclear, Phoenix Ikner entered FSU on Thursday, April 17, killing two people and injuring two others.
She elaborated that neither she nor her daughter, Anne Mari Eriksen, were allowed to see or contact Phoenix Ikner for years, embroiled in a custody battle with the alleged shooter's father, Christopher Ikner.
During the interview, while saying that Phoenix was "the sweetest kid," Susan broke down for a brief moment. After regaining her composure, he called the Ikner family "rotten b----d people."
"We had just found a new phone number a couple of months ago and tried to call the house and the father picked up the phone, hung up and changed the number. That was Chrissie, a**shole," Susan continued, referring to Christopher. "I have no idea what we're going to do now. I have no idea."
'Shockes As Everybody Else'
Phoenix's biological mother, Anne Mari, who expressed feeling concerned for her son, also talked with the Daily Mail, saying that she was "shocked as everybody else.
"I'm just as shocked as everybody else," Anne Mari told the outlet. "I'm sorry, this is very hard. It's very upsetting, it's very upsetting... you just don't think this is going to happen. There's a lot of up and down today."
Susan then revealed that they both knew Phoenix was an FSU student. They reportedly found out about it through other sources, since Christopher and Jessica, Phoenix's stepmother, never told them anything. It has been alleged that Phoenix used Jessica Ikner's weapon to carry out the mass shooting. Jessica is a Leon County deputy.
The grandmother also revealed that, as news of the shooting broke out, she called Anne-Mari, worried about Phoenix. She added that, back when they were with the alleged shooter, who was called Christian before, he "had no problems.
"He had ADHD, that's it. He was a great student, he was sweet, sweet. It was the worst custody fight," Susan added.
Family Battle
This was made apparent when Anne-Mari published a now-deleted post on Facebook, talking about the shooting. The post was published moments before Phoenix Ikner was named as the shooter.
"Horrible when your alienating son's dad is as mentally unstable as he is, along with his LCSO cop wife, that they can't respond when you write to ask if everything is alright with my son, who studies ar [sic] FSU," Anne-Mari wrote.
"That whole familly [sic] is nuts. He should write a book on how to parent badly, but he can't communicate. Feel sorry for everyone at FSU and their kids," she concluded.
Anne-Mari Eriksen served 200 days in jail after she pleaded no contest to removing a minor from the state. She lied about taking Phoenix to South Florida and instead flew with him to Norway in 2015.
Phoenix Ikner was shot by police and will be charged after his recovery.
