Robert Morales, 57, who was the dining coordinator for FSU's department of dining services, was among several university employees who had gathered for a meeting when the shooting began outside the student union, Morales' older brother told the Miami Herald.
"Today we lost my younger brother, 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. wrote Thursday night on X (formerly Twitter).
Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old FSU student and son of a local sheriff's deputy, opened fire at the university around lunchtime on Thursday, killing two men and wounding at least six other people. FSU police captain of operations Jason Trumbower said neither of the victims were students.🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤Today we lost my younger Brother, 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. (@Rick714Canes) April 18, 2025
Him with our Dad on the left and with our other Brother Sister, Gma and cousin. pic.twitter.com/cD24kEZBSU
Police have yet to reveal a motive for the shooting.
Morales — the son of Ricardo "Monkey" Morales, a Cuban-American CIA operative and anti-Castro militant throughout the 1960s and '70s who was killed in a Miami bar fight in 1982 — was a co-owner of Gordos, a popular Cuban-American restaurant in Tallahassee.
According to a GoFundMe page created several years ago, he received a kidney match in 2021 following "a long journey of hope" and underwent a kidney transplant. The fundraiser, organized by Morales' wife, Betty Morales, raised nearly $10,000.
"I donated because of love," one person commented on the fundraiser. "The love that Robert & Betty have for each other, their love for their beautiful daughter and her love of them, and because of the love that multitudes of people have for this family."
This is a breaking story and will be updated as events warrant.
