Staff report
news@wbcowqel.com
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated with the latest information available from The Associated Press regarding the number of people injured.
UPDATED: The Columbus Fire Department was the first on the scene after a car crashed into Watts Hall, a chemical engineering building on The Ohio State University campus, just after 9:30 a.m. Reports indicated that one person came after students with a knife while reports of a second suspect were later proved unfounded.
The Buckeye Alert came across at 10:01 a.m. People in the area were advised to take shelter. Early reports stated that at least seven people were transported from campus to area hospitals with one in critical condition. The Associated Press is now reporting that 11 people in all were injured as a result of the crash and subsequent knife attack. Columbus police stated that one suspect was killed. The Columbus Dispatch later reported that an OSU police officer shot and killed the man, identified as first-year student Abdul Razak Ali Artan, just minutes after the accident. The FBI was also on scene.
Jordan Studer, a sophomore at OSU and a 2015 Colonel Crawford graduate, said she took shelter in her dorm after the alert went out to students.
“I actually was about to head to class, which was in the building connected to the building where the shooting was happening,” Studer said. “I’m very glad that we got the Buckeye Alert right before I walked out my door.”
The alert informed students there was an emergency on the OSU main campus and that students should take shelter.
“There was about three minutes where we didn’t know what was going on,” she added.
A second alert advised students that an active shooter was on campus. Students were told to take shelter, fight back, and stay safe.
“We just kept getting a ton of alerts,” Studer said. Those alerts told students that police were on the scene and to call 911 if they had any information.
“It’s extremely scary,” Studer said about dealing with an active shooter situation. “You hear it happen like everywhere – you’re just always hoping and praying that it won’t happen on your campus that you’re at.
“You wake up and it’s just another normal day and then all this happens and it feels so unreal, so scary.”
Studer said she spent the morning texting her friends to assure them she was all right and to check on them.
“So many of them are right beside there. It’s basically – it could have happened at any point in time wherever anybody is at,” she added.
Studer admitted the morning has been tough to deal with.
“To be completely honest I’ve just been trying to listen to the news and just been praying for the campus, that everyone is getting to safety. It’s so scary,” Studer said. “It’s different when you’re somewhere else and you hear about it. It’s scary then, but so much scarier when you’re on campus. There’s that one in a million chance that the shooter will end up where you’re at. So it’s just really scary that you’re taking the right steps. Even if you are it doesn’t mean that you’re completely safe.”
The shelter in place order was lifted just before noon by police as the scene was secured. All classes were cancelled though numerous buildings are closed until further notice.