BRAVE MAG

ShowBiz & Sports

Hot

Friday, April 17, 2026

Prosecutor says families were 'blindsided' by FSU shooting video

April 17, 2026
Prosecutor says families were 'blindsided' by FSU shooting video

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Prosecutors said new body camera and security footage from the deadly2025 shooting at Florida State Universityshould never have been released after the videos were accidentally made public without proper redactions following a flood of records requests in the case.

USA TODAY

A Florida State University (FSU) student isaccused of opening fireat the school's student union, killing two people and injuring five others with gunfire in April 2025, according to authorities. The suspect,Phoenix Ikner, faces charges of first-degree murder and the death penalty.

Recently released videos showed moments of panic inside the student union as bystanders realize what's unfolding and the moment an FSU police officer takes down Ikner to arrest him. But when theTallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network, requested copies of the videos, the State Attorney's Office of the Second Judicial Circuit said "some protected records were mistakenly released" when fulfilling a previous records request.

"Due to this error, there is an ongoing review of pending records requests to address and remove the records that were inadvertently released," the State Attorney's Office said. "Once this review has been completed, your records request will be answered."

What do the videos show?

The footage featured across news outlets, including local TV news stations WTXL and WCTV, begins seconds before an FSU police officer rides up to the scene and fires his first shots at Iknerwhile still seated on his motorcycle.

"Stay on the ground now," the officer yelled after firing at least a dozen bullets.

He then took off running toward Ikner as a bystander ran past him trying to get away. Another officer's camera later showed a handcuffed Ikner lying on the ground as officers waited for medics to attend to the facial wound he endured when the officer "neutralized" the threat.

Before this, soundless surveillance camera footage showed Ikner running through the union with his gun, with one camera angle even catching him chasing down two students. Students could be seen studying, eating, and working on their computers. Within seconds, everyone scrambled to exit the building and avoid flying bullets.

Later footage showed that other officers' cameras captured the process of clearing the campus and releasing students from classrooms. Students are seen walking out of classrooms and buildings with their hands up, and some who have phones in hand on calls with loved ones.

One video snippet showed an officer helping a wounded victim alongside paramedics.

"Let me check your blood pressure," a paramedic could be heard saying. "Run that way," the officer shouted to a student who was running by. "Keep your hands up and run that way for me."

More body camera footage from the officer who shot down Ikner showedFSU Police Chief Jason Trumbowerpraising him for his heroism.

"Are you the one who shot him?" Trumbower asked. "I shot him, yes, sir," the officer said.

"OK, good job," Trumbower replied. "You good?"

FSU shooting:Florida investigates ChatGPT, OpenAI over alleged role in shooting

Why won't the State Attorney's Office release the footage?

State Attorney Jack Campbell told the Tallahassee Democrat he knew people would argue that the videos are already out there, so there's no reason to withhold them now. He disagreed.

Advertisement

"Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Campbell said. “Just because I made one mistake doesn’t mean I should make another."

Campbell explained that the videos were accidentally released without proper redactions after a deluge of record requests piled up asking for Ikner's chat logs with ChatGPT. The Tallahassee Democrat broke news thata lawsuit was being filedagainst the leading AI chatbot.

Records showed Ikner was in "constant communication" with the chatbot before the shooting occurred.

Campbell said he immediately shut down the release of footage from his office once he realized what happened and took full responsibility for the mistake because raw videos weren't supposed to be released for several reasons.

Chief among them is that surveillance footage cannot be given out, he said, because it allows future criminals to see where cops are surveilling, which could potentially aid them in evading arrest. There are videos where officers were seen running up to victims, and victims are identified. Campbell said victims' names and faces are supposed to be redacted, especially those who asked to remain confidential.

And on a personal level, Campbell said he had promised the victims they could view the footage first.

"I had told the victims that I would let them see (them) in a controlled and intimate setting before they had to see it on the news," he added.

Campbell said he's very upset this happened and that he hurt the victims' families. They were alerted as soon as he saw what happened.

"We blindsided them," he said.

'He is a hero':Security footage shows principal tackle gunman at Oklahoma school

What happened in the FSU shooting?

Authorities said a suspect opened fire near FSU's student union at about 11:50 a.m. local time on April 17, 2025, striking multiple people and triggering a campus-wide lockdown as students ran for cover.

Campus police arrived at the scene "almost immediately" and shot the suspect, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said at the time. The suspect was taken into custody and transported to the hospital with "serious but non-life-threatening injuries," according to Revell.

Two victims,Robert MoralesandTiru Chabba— who were not students — were pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Six people were hospitalized for injuries, including five who suffered gunshot wounds and another person who was injured while running away from the shooting.

Ikner allegedly brought two firearms to campus the day of the shooting, a 12-gauge shotgun and a .45 caliber Glock, according to a Leon County grand jury report. Both were taken from the home of his stepmother, a veteran deputy with the Leon County Sheriff's Office, and his father.

Tallahassee police later revealed that Ikner "was shot once, in the jaw" and had been "neutralized" by an FSU police officer early in his attack. Ikner waslater released from the hospital.

Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat:FSU shooting video was accidentally released to the public: Prosecutor

Read More

Thursday, April 16, 2026

Trump administration agrees to fly pride flag over Stonewall monument

April 16, 2026
Trump administration agrees to fly pride flag over Stonewall monument

WASHINGTON – The federal government will keep flying thepride flagover the Stonewall National Monument in New York City.

USA TODAY

The Trump administration agreed in a decision announced Monday, April 13, to continue flying the rainbow-colored flag over the monument, which recognizes one of the most significant events in LGBTQ+ history.

The flag had flown for years atop a flagpole in a park across the street from the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village that was the site of a 1969 clash between bar patrons and police that has come to be regarded as the start of the modern LGBTQ+ movement.

But the government quietly removed the flag in February, just weeks after the National Park Service issued federal guidance on the types of banners allowed to be flown in national parks. The government claimed the flag did not comply with that policy, which the park service said permitted only the U.S. flag and other approved flags on flagpoles managed by the agency.

After elected officials raised a Pride flag on a temporary flagpole, activists raise the flag on the permanent flagpole at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City Feb. 12, 2026. Thousands gathered at the monument to see the flag raised after President Donald Trump had ordered the flag to be removed earlier in the week.

A week later, a coalition of nonprofit groups sued, demanding the flag be returned.

As part of the settlement, the administration agreed to return the flag atop the monument’s official flagpole within seven days and maintain it permanently. The government also conceded in the settlement that the flag falls within federal law and park service policy.

'We will not be erased':Stonewall pride flag raised in defiance

LGBTQ+ advocates applauded the settlement and accused the Trump administration of trying to erase LGBTQ+ history.

“The sudden, arbitrary, and capricious removal of the pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument was yet another act by this administration to erase the LGBTQ+ community,” said Karen Loewy, co-counsel for the groups that sued.

After elected officials raised a Pride flag on a temporary flagpole, activists raise the flag on the permanent flagpole at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City Feb. 12, 2026. Thousands gathered at the monument to see the flag raised after President Donald Trump had ordered the flag to be removed earlier in the week.

With the settlement, “the government has pledged to restore this important symbol back to where it belongs,” said Loewy, senior counsel and director of Constitutional Law Practice for Lambda Legal, a civil rights group that advocates for the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

Advertisement

The Gilbert Baker Foundation, which honors the legacy of the flag’s creator, also praised the ruling.

“Gilbert Baker created the Rainbow Pride flag as a symbol of hope and liberation,” said Charles Beal, the foundation’s president. “Today, that symbol is restored to the place where it belongs, standing watch over the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.”

The flag has become an internationally recognized symbol of the push for LGBTQ+ equality and the hard-fought gains the community has won through decades of struggles.

More:Stonewall veterans sound alarm over Trump's attempt to erase trans history

The Stonewall National Monument commemorates a clash between police and members of the LGBTQ+ community after officers raided the Stonewall Inn in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. For six days, gay men and women, transgender people, bikers, street kids and others fed up with police harassment fought back. The riots are considered the spark that ignited the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement

The uprising is regarded as such a significant chapter in American history that President Barack Obama designated the bar’s exterior, the adjacent park and the surrounding streets as a national monument in 2016 so that what happened there and the people involved in its history would not be forgotten. The bar itself remains privately owned.

Days after the government removed the flag in February, New York City officials and activists held a ceremony at the site and hoisted it atop the flagpole again in defiance of the Trump administration.

The settlement means the flag will continue to fly over the monument.

Michael Collins writes about the intersection of politics and culture. A veteran reporter, he has covered the White House and Congress. Follow him on X: @mcollinsNEWS

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Stonewall's pride flag to fly permanently after Trump admin OK

Read More

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Gabourey Sidibe Slams Critics of Her 23-Month-Old Twins' Hair, Says She 'Didn't Have Kids' for the Aesthetic

April 15, 2026
Gabourey Sidibe Slams Critics of Her 23-Month-Old Twins' Hair, Says She 'Didn't Have Kids' for the Aesthetic

Gabourey Sidibe addressed criticism of her toddlers' hair, saying she "didn't have kids" for the aesthetic in a post on Instagram Threads

People Gabourey Sidibe and her twinsCredit: Gabourey Sidibe/Instagram; Robin L Marshall/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

  • Sidibe also further explained that she and her husband, Brandon Frankel, "sometimes do their hair several times a day"

  • The actress welcomed her twins Cooper and Maya in April 2024

Gabourey Sidibeis shutting down criticism of her twins' hair.

In a post onInstagram Threads, theGive Me Back My Daughterstar, 42, slammed people who have made negative comments about her 23-month-old twins' hair. Sidibe, who shares her twins Cooper and Maya with husbandBrandon Frankel, said she'd be blocking anyone who left negative comments, adding she "didn't have kids" for the aesthetic.

"If you comment, telling me to do my toddlers[sic] hair, I'm blocking you," she wrote. "Their hair is always brushed, but they are active toddlers who play hard and aggressively launch into Head Shoulders Knees and Toes during lunch, so they get ketchup and eggs in it, so we sometimes do their hair several times a day."

"My daughter's hair is braided every week and when it gets fuzzy in an hour I don't immediately rebraid it because I didn't have kids for the esthetic[sic]," she added.

Sidibe continued telling her followers to "keep it cute," adding that "trying to impress the timeline with constantly manicured children isn't on my list of chores."

"So in closing, let's keep it cute cuz[sic] I'm fighting for my life as it is and trying to impress the timeline with constantly manicured children isn't on my list of chores," she wrote, before jokingly attaching a picture of her cat and wriitng, "Aaron will however be debuting the fresh box braids he got for his birthday trip to Punta Cana."

While Sidibe doesn't play when it comes to people criticizing her children, she can also find the humor in life as a parent of two. Back in February, the doting mom proved she'd do anything to make her kids look fabulous as she shared funny snaps of her children wearing her wigs onInstagram. TheEmpirealum joked that she was walking around bald, so her kids could look stylish in her hair.

"My head looks like this 🧑‍🦲 so that their heads can look this 👩‍🎤🧑‍🎤👨‍🎤," she joked.

Advertisement

In the comments, her husband poked fun at the moment, writing, "You know you love them cuz you let them wear ya good wigs 😂😂❤️."

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Sidibe welcomed her kids in April 2024. Since then, she's shared the precious and special moments with them throughout the years. In November, she shared a picture onInstagramwith her twins as they visited her on the set of a project she was directing. In the picture, she held both of her twins while standing next to her director's chair.

"The twins visited me on set the other day. They STILL [aren't] allowed to watch screens tho," she captioned her post.

In the comments, Sidibe's husband showed some love to his wife. "Getting to watch them visit you at work and you simultaneously be a boss lady and the best mom is such an honor ❤️🥹."

Frankel also shared pictures from their visit on set on hisInstagram, expressing how proud he was of her.

"I'm really glad the twins and I were able to travel across the country so they could be reunited with mama@gabbysidibewhile she directed a new movie," he captioned his post. "Seeing them light up when they got to see her after weeks of her being gone (minus FaceTimes and videos daily) was magical. 🥹❤️ WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!"

Read the original article onPeople

Read More