As multiple rounds of gunfire erupted near Florida State University’s student union minutes before noon on Thursday, hordes of students ran away from the campus trying to get to safety as the sound of emergency sirens grew louder.

The gunman in a fatal attack at Florida State University had a history of espousing radical right-wing conspiracy theories and hateful ideas.

Phoenix Ikner, the 20-year-old stepson of a local sheriff's deputy, spent an hour moving in and out of his vehicle in a parking garage before carrying out the attack, authorities say.