Roberto Morales, one of the two individuals killed during the mass shooting at Florida State University on Thursday, was not a student at the university.
Authorities confirmed that five others were hospitalized in the shooting, which unfolded just before noon near the Student Union building.
The gunman, identified as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, an FSU student and the son of longtime Leon County Sheriff’s Deputy Jessica Ikner, is currently in custody.
Law enforcement officials stated that the suspect used one of his mother’s personal firearms during the attack.
Roberto Morales, originally from South Florida, had worked in dining services at Florida State University since 2015.
Friends and family members say he was a dedicated worker and a devoted family man, survived by his wife and daughter.
According to his brother, Morales was profoundly affected by the death of their father, Ricardo “Monkey” Morales, during his teenage years.
Ricardo Morales, a Cuban exile and former Cold War intelligence operative, was fatally shot in a Key Biscayne bar on December 20, 1982, at the age of 43.
The incident was officially ruled a justifiable homicide, though longstanding questions and conspiracy theories persist due to his controversial background and extensive ties to covert operations.
Ricardo “Monkey” Morales was a high-profile figure in anti-Castro militant circles and operated as an intelligence asset for multiple agencies, including the CIA, FBI, DEA, Israel’s Mossad, and Venezuela’s DISIP.
His career was marked by a wide array of clandestine activities, from sabotage and espionage to alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
Despite facing numerous legal challenges, Morales often avoided prosecution — further fueling speculation about his deep involvement with U.S. and international intelligence communities.
A veteran of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, Morales became part of the broader network of Cuban exiles recruited by the CIA during the 1960s and ’70s for missions aimed at destabilizing Fidel Castro’s government.
His covert operations spanned multiple continents and left behind a murky trail of intrigue and speculation.
In a 2021 Miami radio interview, Ricardo Morales Jr. — Roberto’s brother — claimed that their father had recognized Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, as one of his former sniper trainees.
According to Morales Jr., his father served as a sniper instructor at secret CIA-backed camps where Cuban exiles and others were trained for covert missions. He claimed that Morales immediately identified Oswald upon seeing news reports following JFK’s assassination in 1963.
Roberto Morales’ life and death now echo the shadowy legacy of his father, a man whose name continues to stir debate among Cold War historians and conspiracy theorists alike