FSU Student Survives Shooting Thanks To Library Books
Earlier this morning (November 20), a Florida State University graduate open fired in FSU's Strozier library, sending 2 student to the hospital with injuries and grazing a third who was treated on the scene for the minor wound.
What one student didn't know at the time though, is that he was the first targeted victim in the shooting and survived a brush with death.
Jason Derfuss, a senior at the university, was surprised with this shocking discovery several hours later when he opened his backpack. Derfuss was checking out a handful of books late in the night, just moments before the tragedy occurred, and when the gunman walked inside the entrance around 12:30 a.m., he aimed directly at Derfuss from only five feet away and opened fire.
Only, Derfuss didn't feel a thing. He didn't even realize he was a target until he later opened up his backpack and saw that the library books had stopped the bullet.
"Earlier tonight there was a shooting at FSU, right as I was leaving Strozier. I didn't know this at the time, but the Shooter targeted me first," Derfuss wrote in a heartfelt Facebook post. "The shot I heard behind me I did not feel, nor did it hit me at all. He was about 5 feet from me, but he hit my books."
"Books one minute earlier I had checked out of the library, books that should not have stopped the bullet. But they did. I learned this about 3 hours after it happened, I never thought to check my bag. I assumed I wasn't a target, I assumed I was fine.
"The truth is I was almost killed tonight and God intervened. I know conceptually He can do all things, but to physically witness the impossible and to be surrounded by such grace is indescribable. To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen."
The gunman was identified Thursday as a FSU alumni, however, a motive has not been made clear. Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo told the Tampa Bay Times that police do not know why the shooter "chose this time and place,'" but that "based on all the evidence" they believe the shooter acted alone and "there is no further threat."
