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FSU shooting victims include school employee whose dad was a Cuban exile turned CIA operative

Robert Morales was a university dining coordinator who had worked at Florida State since 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile

(AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

A student places flowers near the Florida State Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025.

By: Associated Press

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Two people were killed and six others were injured when a gunman opened fire at Florida State University, sending students fleeing from the student union and putting the Tallahassee campus under lockdown.

Authorities have identified the shooter as Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old Florida State student who is the son of a sheriff's deputy. He began firing with his mother's former service weapon before he was shot and wounded by officers when he refused to comply with commands, investigators said.

WATCH BELOW: Doctors say 6 victims in FSU shooting expected to make 'full recovery'

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Authorities have not yet revealed a motive for the shooting, which began around lunchtime Thursday just outside the student union.

Officials have also not identified the victims, though family members have said that university employee Robert Morales was one of those who were killed. Here is what we know about Morales.

Robert Morales

Robert Morales was a university dining coordinator who had worked at Florida State since 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile.

"Today we lost my younger Brother, he was one of the victims killed at FSU," Ricardo Morales Jr. posted on social media late Thursday. "He loved his job at FSU and his beautiful Wife and Daughter. I'm glad you were in my life."

Morales had studied criminology at the school in the early 1990s, according to the LinkedIn profile.

The profile also said he was CEO of Black Bean Food Group, though state records show that the business was dissolved a decade ago.

The Morales brothers' father, Ricardo Morales, was a Cuban exile turned CIA operative in South Florida with the nickname "Monkey." Ricardo Morales Jr. describes his father's work as a contract agent for the CIA in the forthcoming book, "Monkey Morales: The True Story of a Mythic Cuban Exile, Assassin, CIA Operative, FBI Informant, Smuggler, and Dad," which is expected to be published later this year.

"Dubbed 'The Monkey' for his disruptive and unpredictable escapades, Morales grabbed headlines for decades as tales of his bombings, arrests, assassination attempts (both those he executed and those he suffered), and testimony constructed a real-life spy adventure unlike anything brought to page or screen,” reads promotional material from publisher Simon & Schuster.

The elder Morales was fatally shot in a bar brawl in 1982 at the age of 43.

WPTV has also learned that the other person killed in the shooting was Tiru Chabba, 45, of Greenville, South Carolina, who worked for Aramark.

Read more of WPTV's coverage below: