TALLAHASSEE, FL — It was a subdued and emotional morning on Florida State University’s campus as many students returned for their first day of classes following a shooting that left two dead and six others injured on April 17.

In ordinary times, walkways would have been buzzing with students ahead of finals. But little was ordinary about the morning of April 21, days after a 20-year-old student opened fire near the student union. Multiple people were struck by gunfire, including two people who were pronounced dead at the scene. Five others suffered gunshot wounds, and another person was injured while running away from the shooting, authorities said.

The main pedestrian path through campus was lined with flowers as FSU sophomore Bobby Bowden walked by. His data analytics class on Monday mornings has nearly 40 students, but only he and one other student were in the classroom with their professor on April 21.

“I’ve kind of just sat around and have done nothing for the past few days, as I’m sure a lot of people did,” said Bowden, 20. “I thought going to class, getting to some sense of normalcy again, and getting back in the loop of things would help me get productive again.”

Though Bowden was not on campus during the shooting, he says a friend of his ran to his place from the Legacy Walk area on campus when the shooting began.

“I think the more people on campus, the more people will be comfortable with coming back,” Bowden said. “Since I wasn’t as affected as other people were, I’m just doing my part of being out here to begin the process of getting back on campus.”

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Many students have three options to close out the year

Classes resumed April 21 with a remote option for many courses under an updated plan that the university announced after students slammed the administration for the quick return date after the shooting.

Several professors are giving students three options as the semester comes to an end:

• Accept their current letter grade as their final grade while being excused from finals.
• Finish the semester virtually in order to take their finals.
• Or request an incomplete grade for the course and return during the summer or fall to complete finals in person.

FSU freshman and nursing major Courtney Lesser, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, lives on campus but has been staying with friends off campus since the shooting.

She usually has a statistics class on Mondays but her professor canceled it on April 21 as the FSU community reels from the deadly shooting.

As the spring semester is set to end in two weeks, Lesser, who says she was on lockdown for about three hours in the Sandels Building on campus on the day of the shooting, decided to come back on campus to see her friends and to face the tragic reality ahead of the fall.

“It felt like a drill since it was so surreal,” Lesser said. “It was almost like everything was happening in slow motion. We didn’t want to come back to all of this in August, so we’re trying to get through it together now while it’s fresh in our minds.”

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Florida State University students, faculty, staff and others return to campus just days after a mass shooting occurred, Monday, April 21, 2025.

An ’emotional’ return as FSU president grieves with students

During the first day back, FSU President Richard McCullough was near the student union building, which had been surrounded by law enforcement days earlier. He talked to several students as they shared their feelings.

“It’s emotional,” McCullough told the Tallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network. “The students I talked to seem to be doing fine, and they don’t seem to be scared, which is good. But they’re still reeling from what happened.”

“I think having classes today was the right thing to do,” he added. “A lot of the seniors told me they would have felt very bad if we didn’t have the option of them coming back since it would’ve been the shooting and then graduation. So they’re trying to put together their final week in the best way that they can.”

FSU junior Sydney Gardner, 21, spoke to McCullough while standing in front of a memorial on the steps of the student union building, which is closed until further notice. She says the first and only time she spoke to him at FSU was under different circumstances, recalling how they conversed as he passed out donuts during a previous finals week.

“I wasn’t expecting him to be here,” Gardner said. “It’s definitely different, but it means a ton that he’s here and willing to talk to students even though he’s probably also struggling.”

Florida State University President Richard McCullough visits with students who stop to pay their respects at memorials around campus just days after a mass shooting occurred, Monday, April 21, 2025.

As students returned to campus for classes, Animal Tales — a self-described “edZOOtainment” business — was present on Landis Green and offered students the chance to connect with some of its animals, such as a wallaby, for comfort while the FSU community grieves.

FSU junior Christina Elms said the animal therapy on campus helped. She was outside FSU’s HCB and Bellamy buildings during the shooting, where she heard the shots being fired and people screaming before she ran toward Strozier Library — the site of a separate school shooting more than a decade ago.

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“It feels like there’s no one here, so having groups like this one on campus makes the atmosphere feel more welcoming,” said Elms, 21, referring to Animal Tales.

After attending an Easter Sunday church service on April 20, Elms said she spent about three hours on campus, visiting the several memorials displayed in front of the union and other areas as she processed the pain.

“I want to desensitize myself instead of avoiding the union,” Elms said. “I don’t want to have to live in fear in a school that I go to and that I got into on my own merit because of some weirdo. I don’t want him to take that feeling of safety away from me.”

A wallaby and other animals were on Landis Green to brighten spirits of students and staff returning to campus Monday, April 21, 2025.

Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY

Tarah Jean is a reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State students return to class days after campus shooting