Gunman Reported On Ohio State University Campus

At least nine people were reportedly injured in a shooting at the Ohio State University in Columbus. For the latest, Steve Inskeep speaks with reporter Jo Ingles of Ohio Public Radio and Television.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Let's get the latest that we know about a shooting on campus at Ohio State University today. We do not know the cause of this shooting. We do not know the identity of the shooter. We do know, according to local officials in Columbus, Ohio, that nine people have been taken to the hospital. We don't know if that means nine people shot but nine people taken to the hospital at Ohio State University. And we have local media reports unconfirmed that the shooter may also have been shot at this time. But this is a - this is a moment in which every - every fact that we have is subject to change. We're going to go now to Jo Ingles of Ohio Public Radio and TV. She is on the line from Ohio State University. What have you been able to see and hear this morning?

JO INGLES: Well, right now I'm at the corner of Tuttle and Lane. This is the area where the activity seems to be taking place. A parking garage here has been surrounded. You can hear maybe above me the helicopters that are circling this area. Columbus SWAT is on the scene. We see some dogs over there now that are kind of looking around for something. Lots of activity but not the usual activity. We're not seeing a lot of students or a lot of people who would normally be on campus at this hour. It's just basically one big police scene.

INSKEEP: Well, we do know that Ohio State University sent a tweet with some advisories to students and faculty and that the tweet says run hide fight, which I gather is a policy at Ohio State University. You should run from a situation like this. If you can't run, you should hide. And only if you can't do either of those things you should try to fight back. Is that your understanding of what they're telling people to do?

INGLES: Yes, that is exactly my understanding of what has been happening here. Some of the students were tweeting out earlier that they were doing just that, you know, and so right now we're in a waiting pattern. I haven't had a chance to talk to any students or any of the normal university professors, people who do business here. And I haven't even had a chance to talk to the police. So I'm just going on what I see, which is a lot of commotion on the part of campus that's called north campus. This is around - if people are familiar, it's around the famous Varsity Club that's been here for a very long time. And it's right across the street from it.

INSKEEP: And the name of a hall, Watts Hall, was given by Ohio State University, described as a materials science and engineering building. So you're - that's not very far from where you are.

INGLES: That is not very far. I cannot see that building within eyeshot. I can see the area - parking garage area that it seemed to end up in that area after it was initially reported at Watts Hall. And that parking garage area is right in front of me. But you can't see much happening, like I said, other than police cars everywhere.

INSKEEP: Now, Jo Ingles, we can add NPR News has learned that according to university police the shelter-in-place advisory, that run, hide, fight advisory that we mentioned, has now been lifted, suggesting that perhaps the shooter is down or in custody. Very briefly, can you just describe how this event started? What was the first word that broke out?

INGLES: Well, I was going into a building here on campus to do a radio show. And as I went in, I was hearing a lot of commotion and a lot of emergency vehicles. And I thought there might have been a bad accident on the interstate or something. And as - soon after I got in, then we started seeing the reports coming through. And...

INSKEEP: OK. We've got to...

INGLES: ...At the time...

INSKEEP: We've got to stop you - we've got to stop you there, Jo Ingles. But we'll continue tracking this story of a shooting at Ohio State University. Nine people have been taken to the hospital.

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