10 feet away: OSU attack was close call for Marion man
MARION - Ten feet of empty space.
That's all that separated Jonathan Vaflor and the vehicle driven by the man responsible for an attack that left 11 people injured Monday at The Ohio State University in Columbus.
Vaflor, a Marion resident and a junior at Ohio State, was an eyewitness to the events that unfolded when 18-year-old Abdul Razak Ali Artan drove a car onto a sidewalk outside of Watts Hall, hitting several people before exiting the vehicle and attacking others with a knife.
Artan was shot and killed by Ohio State police Officer Alan Horujko. The incident is still being investigated.
At the time of the attack, Vaflor said, he was one of many who was waiting to return to the building after a fire alarm was activated. He said the sound of a vehicle accelerating drew his attention away from a conversation he was having with classmates.
"(Artan) aimed his car at the traffic cop who was standing next to me, hits him, and was on his way toward me and my friends," said Vaflor, a graduate of Pleasant High School. "We jump out of the way and the car flies past us, hits a few people and hits a planter and then continues to roll into the crowd."
Vaflor said he initially thought it was an unfortunate car crash and then turned his attention to the injured traffic policeman. However, he said, the situation escalated into pandemonium after Artan exited the vehicle.
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"Before I get to the cop, all of a sudden, I just hear people yelling, 'Run,'" Vaflor said. "I turned and looked and everyone was just in panic mode, just running. In my mind, I wasn't sure if the guy had a gun or if the car was about to explode. I had no idea. So I took off sprinting toward High Street."
Vaflor said as he rounded the building, he heard gunshots and ran into a nearby dormitory, Nosker House, to seek shelter.
"I wasn't sure if that was the police officer or the guy in the car," he said. "I started yelling at people I was running past, telling them to get in the dorms right now."
After entering Nosker, Vaflor called his father, Ed Vaflor, to inform him about what was occurring. The younger Vaflor then stayed in the dormitory and watched on television as local news outlets reported on the situation until Ohio State campus security canceled the shelter in place alert.
Like so many on the Ohio State campus, the experience has left Vaflor shaken.
"It's really easy to take safety for granted, for sure," he said. "You don't think about this happening. You don't think about, 'If I cross the street, will this car stop at this red light,' or 'Is this car coming up behind me, is it going to jump the curb and just run me over?' I know it will pass with time, but I have these thoughts walking to class, especially since the only class I have on main campus is in Watts Hall."
In fact, Vaflor said, Watts Hall isn't just where he attends class, it's also where he works. While he hasn't sought individual counseling for himself, he attended a group counseling event Wednesday and will attend one Friday at Ohio State.
"For me, friends and family are good enough help," he said. "Some of my other friends, they can't sleep. They can't eat. One girl lives in the dorm and she can't sleep next to the window because she can hear cars drive by. She has to sleep in the lobby and she felt bad because she was pulling her roommates in to sleep next to her."
Vaflor said he searched for information about Artan the day after the incident to try and determine why the young man carried out the violent act.
"He seemed to be a good student, someone who went and got a two-year degree, graduated cum laude, and then transferred to Ohio State to finish off a four-year degree," he said. "That's exactly what I'm doing. They had videos of him online, showing him happy and cheerful, just someone who wouldn't do this at all. … You wouldn't expect that out of someone who seemed to have a positive background."
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