Two people were killed and six were wounded Thursday during a mass shooting at Florida State University‘s Student Union, officials said.
The alleged shooter, identified as 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner, was also wounded in an exchange of gunfire with responding officers and remained in the hospital.
All six of the victims are in stable condition and are expected to make a full recovery, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital said Friday.
Hospital staff provided an update on the victims’ conditions during a press conference and briefly explained how each patient needed to be treated for gunshot wounds. The staff said that at this time, all six victims are in stable condition, with one of them in fair condition due to the extent of their injuries.
According to Dr. Brett Howard, a trauma surgeon and the surgery team’s leader, the hospital was notified about the shooting shortly before noon and leadership and medical staff immediately prepared for however many victims they needed to treat.
“The hardest part of it all is not knowing how many patients you’re going to get,” he said, adding that TMH staff was very proactive with its communication systems in place and activated the necessary resources by bringing additional staff to prepare for the worst.
Howard said that the proximity of the hospital to the university also helped with the fast response and immediate treatment, adding that all six patients were seen within an hour of admission. He also highlighted that the relationship between hospital staff, law enforcement, and first responders also helped make the process go smoothly.
Out of the six patients, three were brought into the operating room for surgery, with two of them needing abdominal surgery and the third needing facial surgery. The other patients also suffered gunshot wounds to their extremities, hospital staff said, but didn’t specify exactly what kind of injuries they sustained.
Despite being in shock, Howard said all the patients were “brave” when they arrived and they were able to communicate with hospital staff: “All of them were very clear-minded [and] they were able to converse with us.”
When asked whether Ikner was among the patients treated, Howard told reporters that his team only treated six individuals and didn’t specify whether the alleged gunman was also one of the hospital’s patients.
Richard McCullough, the president of FSU, was also in attendance during Friday’s press conference and thanked TMH staff for their incredible work to help treat the victims promptly.
“The hospital’s done an amazing job,” he said.
The hospitalized remain unnamed, as one victim is ID’d
Authorities have not released the names of any victims. However, family members have identified one of the victims as Robert Morales, a university dining worker.
Robert Morales
Among those killed was 57-year-old Robert Morales, a longtime employee in the university’s dining services department. His death was confirmed by his brother, Ricardo Morales Jr., in a post on social media Thursday night.
“Today we lost my younger brother,” he wrote. “He was one of the victims killed at FSU. He loved his job at FSU and his beautiful wife and daughter. I’m glad you were in my life.”
Ricardo Morales Jr. also confirmed his brother’s death to CBS News Miami.
According to the Miami Herald, Robert Morales was attending a meeting with other university employees when the shooting erupted. He was also the son of Ricardo “Monkey” Morales, a controversial Cuban American CIA operative and anti-Castro militant active during the Cold War. The elder Morales was killed in a bar fight in Miami in 1982.
While the university has yet to officially confirm the victims’ names, memorials of candles and flowers have begun to appear across campus, and a vigil is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday at Langford Green.
One doctor also helped patients during 2014 FSU library shooting
Among the hospital staff that treated the victims, one of the doctors was able to speak about the comparison of medical response between Thursday’s shooting and the FSU library shooting over a decade ago.
Doctor Shelby Blank, a general and breast surgeon who also on staff during the 2014 shooting, said it was a “more limited situation” compared to Thursday’s tragedy.
“Unfortunately, traumatic violence is something that goes on, whether it’s a few over the course of a weekend versus many compressed into a couple of hours,” she said.
Blank continued, saying that Thursday’s shooting was “catastrophic.”
“Given the number of students in that compressed area, the recipe for disaster is very scary,” she said.