Trump Reacts to Lethal Florida State College Taking pictures

President Donald Trump is weighing in on the lethal mass capturing at Florida State College on Thursday, April 17.

A gunman opened hearth on the college’s Tallahassee campus Thursday afternoon, leaving two lifeless and no less than six injured. A suspect, recognized by police as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, is in custody, a Tallahassee police spokesperson beforehand confirmed to PEOPLE. The 2 deceased victims haven’t been publicly recognized; nonetheless, police say they aren’t college students.

Whereas talking with reporters within the Oval Workplace Thursday, Trump was requested if there are any adjustments he desires to see in gun laws because of the capturing.

“I am an enormous advocate of the Second Modification, I’ve been from the start,” Trump stated in a clip revealed by C-SPAN. “I protected it.”

“This stuff are horrible. However the gun would not do the capturing, the individuals do — a phrase that is used most likely too usually,” Trump continued. “It is a disgrace. I am simply listening to about it now. I do know the world very nicely, I do know the college very nicely, it is Florida.”

Trump stated he’ll “have extra to say” sooner or later, “Solely when it comes to what occurred.” Nonetheless, he doesn’t plan on pushing for adjustments in laws.

“This has been happening for a very long time. I’ve an obligation to guard the Second Modification, I ran on the Second Modification amongst many different issues, and I’ll all the time shield the Second Modification.”

All through the 2024 presidential election, Trump stored the safety of the Second Modification on the forefront of his marketing campaign. In 2025, the Trump administration introduced plans to roll again a program that cracks down on federally licensed gun sellers who falsify enterprise data, and has plans to skip buyer background checks, per the New York Instances.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis additionally addressed the deadly capturing in a video shared to his official X account. He acknowledged that he and his spouse, Casey DeSantis, “stand in solidarity and are praying for all the Florida State group.”

“We’re mourning the 2 people who misplaced their lives,” DeSantis continued, including, “And we want nicely those that are at present recovering within the hospital. This killer should and will likely be delivered to justice to the fullest extent of the regulation.”

DeSantis additionally thanked first responders who had been capable of neutralize the suspect and cease him “from inflicting extra hurt.”

“We’re all Seminoles right now,” stated DeSantis, referencing the college’s mascot.

Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil acknowledged in a press convention earlier that Ikner is the son of a sheriff’s deputy who had been with the division for 18 years.

Authorities consider he’s a pupil on the college, per the Related Press. Florida State College Police Division is answerable for the investigation, the Leon County Sheriff’s Division advised PEOPLE.

Three totally different weapons had been present in reference to the suspect: a handgun on him on the scene, a shotgun within the pupil union, and one other handgun within the suspect’s automotive, CNN stories.

A motive for the mass capturing at Florida State College stays beneath investigation.