A transcription of the 911 calls made during the attack on OSU campus shed more light on the events on No. 28. Credit: Mason Swires | Assistant Photo Editor
The Columbus Division of Police released 911 calls from Monday’s car-and-knife attack at Ohio State in a media kit during a Wednesday morning press conference, which revealed the confusion and fear present that morning as the campus tried to figure out what was going on.
The CD included 15 recorded calls from Columbus and OSU area 911 dispatches. Some callers reported from the scene of the attack, telling dispatchers first-hand accounts of what they saw.
One caller, who was outside of Watts Hall when the attacker, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, drove his vehicle up onto the curb into the crowd of students and faculty, recalled his memory of the scene to the dispatcher.
“We were all standing outside cause the fire alarm went off, this guy in a Honda Civic came out, ran through the crowd, jumped out of his car and started taking down people with a knife, and he was running down Woodruff,” one caller said, panting between words. “Oh my God.”
That same caller said he witnessed the moment when University Police officer Alan Horujko shot and killed Artan, a third-year in logistics management, while on call with the dispatcher.
“I think he’s dead, I’m looking at him now,” the caller said.
Another caller was on the phone with the dispatcher as he ran away from the scene.
“It was a gray, looks like a Honda Civic. I’m like a block or two away now. I ran as soon as I thought I heard gunshots,” the caller said.
Another caller urged the dispatcher to send paramedics immediately. He repeatedly asked for an ambulance to be sent.
“They just drove through, we need an ambulance fast, please,” the caller said. “There’s a guy hit, he’s on the ground. There’s another person on the ground.”
The CD also included calls from people who had taken shelter in classroom buildings, unsure of what was happening outside. Many callers, after a Buckeye Alert was sent saying there was an active shooter, were under the impression there was a gunman in the area.
One caller, who locked herself in an office in Gerlach Hall on North Campus, said people in the building were warning others of an active shooter.
“We just heard screaming that there is an active shooter … I haven’t seen anyone. Somebody just came in screaming that there’s an active shooter,” the caller said. “We locked ourselves in the office.”
The attack sent 11 people to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Ten of the injured have since been released from the hospital.
