FSU Student Says This Book Saved His Life

On early Thursday morning, a gunman stormed Florida State University's Strozier Library and wounded three students before being killed in a shoot-out with campus police. Humanities student Jason Derfuss was in the FSU library at the time, but didn't realize he'd been shot until hours later when he discovered bullet holes ripped through the books in his backpack (The Oxford Context of Wyclif’s Thought, if you wondered) and realized he'd been shot at by the gunman, identified by the Associated Press as FSU graduate Myron May.

Not long afterward, 21-year-old Derfuss posted photos on Facebook of the books riddled with bullet holes. He wrote:

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. 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.

Two of the victims remain in hospital, and a third was released at the scene. One of the students is described as being in critical condition.

Few details have been released about the shooter's identity, although cops have described the shooting as an "isolated incident." At a press conference, FSU Police Chief David Perry said: "This person just, for whatever reason, produced a handgun and then began shooting students in the library."

Images: Facebook/Jason Derfuss