One month after the April 17 mass shooting at Florida State University (FSU) that claimed the lives of two people and left six others injured, State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues announced campus leaders must conduct security reviews of all universities.
Rodrigues told the system’s Board of Governors on Thursday that the reviews will largely focus on building access control and the ability to conduct a lockdown drill, CBS reports. The goal is to complete assessments by the end of the summer to allow time for related budget requests during the 2026 legislative session.
“Specifically, we want to know if the doors can be locked from the inside, and if there are windows in the doors, can those be covered or protected?” Rodrigues said.
The State University System of Florida is comprised of 12 universities and more than 430,0000 students, making it the second-largest university system in the U.S..
RELATED: FSU Shooting Victims Identified
Rodrigues also announced the system will hold a safety summit in October for campus leaders to share best practices and review the results of their safety assessments.
“The goal there would be to identify what we can do to improve across each of our university campuses, as well as identify common concerns so that we will know if we want to make any policy requests of the Legislature for the 2026 session,” he said.
Rodrigues noted that Florida took significant steps to improve school security following the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which left 17 dead and 17 others injured.
State University System of Florida Chancellor Praises Police Response to FSU Shooting
Rodrigues also on Thursday praised FSU police officers for their quick response to the shooting.
“I feel confident in saying the response of the FSU campus police in this situation was nothing short of amazing, and this could have been a much, much worse tragedy than it was,” he said. “Obviously, tragic to have students shot and to have any loss of life. But the quick response of the FSU campus police prevented this from being much, much, much worse.”
Killed in the shooting were 57-year-old Robert Morales, a longtime employee in FSU’s dining services department, and 45-year-old Tiru Chabba, the regional vice president for Aramark Collegiate Hospitality, which supplies food to universities. Rodrigues announced all injured victims have been released from the hospital.
RELATED: FSU Shooting Suspect Had Mental Health Issues, Participated in Sheriff’s Training Programs
The suspect, a 20-year-old FSU student, is the stepson of a Leon County Sheriff’s deputy. Law enforcement officials say he used his stepmother’s former service handgun, which she had kept for personal use after the force upgraded to new weapons, to carry out the attack.
Investigators determined the suspect had a history of mental health issues and had participated in youth training programs offered by the Leon County Sheriff’s Department. He was a longstanding member of of the the sheriff’s office’s Youth Advisory Council, a program designed to offer youth a voice in community policing efforts.
The suspect was indicted on May 14 on two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm. He is being held without bond at the Wakulla County Detention Facility.
