TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As shots rang out across the Florida State University campus in Tallahassee on April 17, a person reportedly filmed and posted a video of themselves sipping a Starbucks coffee as they passed injured victims.

In the background of the video, a girl (later identified as Madison Askins) can be seen lying on the ground and bleeding and, in the distance, multiple shots can be heard. Askins survived, but the most frightening moment of her life has been forever immortalized in the form of what X users are calling a “heartless” video.

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“During the terrifying FSU shooting, a woman recorded herself strolling past an injured person—Starbucks in hand—without a trace of concern," X user @ndelriego posted April 17. “It’s beyond disturbing to see such callousness.”

Another user, @joshslashburke, echoed these sentiments: “Just saw a video from the FSU shooting where a woman drinking her Starbucks shows her [c]up in frame then records the body as she walks casually by it. We are rapidly moving into unsatirizable [sic] dystopia." That post received over 352,000 views.

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The video’s contents, as well as the online response to it, seemingly tie into a larger discussion about the purported desensitization of the American public towards mass shootings.

Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit organization dedicated to tracking gun violence in the United States, defines a mass shooting as an incident wherein “a minimum of four victims [have been] shot, either injured or killed, not including the shooter.” The organization reports that 84 mass shootings have already taken place in the United States in the calendar year of 2025. Six of those were in Florida.

Due to the frequency of such events, numerous studies have been conducted regarding the emotional reactions toward gun violence, particularly as it pertains to social media.

A 2017 study by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Swansea University seeking to “examine desensitization for the five most commonly experienced emotions towards violent incidents found by previous research: sadness, anger, disgust, fear, and anxiety” analyzed that “the amount of negative emotion generated by each school shooting is decreasing over time.”

Professionals worry that this desensitization stems from the use of social media itself. and the onslaught of violent news, images, videos, and media that cross a user’s For You page each day.

READ: FSU shooting latest: 2 dead; 20-year-old suspect is son of local sheriff’s deputy

In a 2019 article for Psychology Today, Dr. Michael Pittaro, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at American Military University, wrote that “while there have been numerous studies over the decades focusing on violence on TV, in the movies, and in video games and their potential influence on aggression and violence in children, those are not real-life. I am not discounting that such violence could influence or contribute to real-life violence, but I am most concerned about children and adolescents witnessing horrific incidents in real-time with mostly little to no censorship of the horrific and quite graphic fatalities, severe injuries, or the traumatic reactions to those who witnessed the events firsthand.”

This desensitization can be most clearly seen on platforms X and TikTok, where users habitually share graphic content, most of which remains uncensored and viewable to anyone who is logged in.

READ: Florida State University community mourns shooting victims, vigil held

“Is anyone actually surprised that a student walked by a victim after the FSU mass shooting today while casually sipping Starbucks and recording with their phone?” X user @niceblackdude wrote in an April 17 post that garnered over 100,000 views. “It pisses me off, but I’m not surprised. This is a direct reflection of where society stands today, sadly.”

The graphic video has since been taken down by the original user but remains in circulation on most social media platforms. While the victim, Askins, has been identified, the identity of the person filming the video is still unconfirmed.

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