FSU Student Keeps Drinking Starbucks While Filming Shooting Victim in Viral Video

As of April 2025, there have been 98 mass shootings in the United States of America, including one that occurred on the campus of Florida State University on April 17. Around midday, students reported hearing gunfire on campus and immediately started receiving text alerts about an active shooter at the school. Officers responded to multiple calls regarding the shooter, who was at the student union.

Unfortunately, two people were killed, and six were injured, per CBS News.

Police shot and injured the suspect, who was later identified as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner. The weapon allegedly used by Ikner belonged to his stepmother, who has been a Leon County deputy for more than 18 years.

As the story continues to develop, folks have been scouring social media for information. That's when people stumbled upon a video of a girl casually sipping on a Starbucks drink while filming some of the FSU victims. Here's what we know.

In a post to X Collin Rugg, co-owner of Trending Politics, shared a 25-second video of a girl filming two victims of the FSU shooting. You can hear gunfire in the background as she casually strolls, while sipping from an iced Starbucks beverage.

First, we see a bag on the ground, followed by the blurred image of a body with a water bottle lying nearby. She is drinking while filming that part, then an edit appears to show the same body again.

The footage cuts to a parking lot where you can see students running through campus on the other side of a fence as three gunshots go off.

Another edit shows an officer kneeling next to a girl who seems to be injured, and ends after that. Someone in the comments suggested the Starbucks part of the edit wasn't filmed on the day of the FSU shooting. Rugg responded and said, "The other angles line up with the video," before adding an aerial view of where this occurred.

Several people replied to Rugg's post and suggested that the student should be arrested for filming the carnage. Most people were shocked by her indifference and said she should have helped.

A few commenters theorized that the Starbucks girl was perhaps in shock, while some blamed her behavior on the need for social media clicks and engagement.

What many in the replies are describing is something called the bystander effect, which has been made worse by the ability to record videos anywhere at any time.

According to Psychology Today, the bystander effect "occurs when the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation, against a bully, or during an assault or other crime." This was popularized after the infamous murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City in 1964.

Although Genovese's story ended up being grossly exaggerated, the behavioral paralysis in situations like that, or the FSU shooting, is still very real. Once cell phone cameras made filming possible, this perceived apathy was magnified.

A study published in MDPI found that the "bystander effect can be compounded by the prospect of capturing footage that gains attention or goes viral." This is one possible explanation as to why the Starbucks girl hit record during an active shooting.