Bobby Fair had seen his share of danger while serving as a U.S. Marine. The former infantryman who also served on AAV-7A1 amphibious assault vehicles, though, never imagined that his warrior training would come in handy at college.
When a suspected Somali-born jihadist used a car and knife to carry out his attack at Ohio State University, the college’s Buckeye Alert system sent out the warning very quickly. Fair would recall his training kicking in.
“A light bulb clicked in my head and I said, ‘Hey this room needs to be secured right now. We need to get a barricade up. All the students that are not being used in the barricade need to get off to the side of the classroom, completely away from all the windows,’ ” Fair told ABC News.
Fair lead other classmates in barricading the door – which had no lock – with chairs and desks. Once that was done, he ensured that the students in that classroom stuck together.
“You could just see on my fellow students’ faces the tension, the stress and everything while it was going on. It was so confusing. We didn’t have the slightest clue what was going on out there,” Fair told ABC, noting that in this situation, staying put was the best course of action.
“Every situation is going to be different, but in my best opinion the best route to go is to hide, remain out of sight, out of mind,” he told Fox 28 in Columbus. “I hope this actually gets people thinking ‘Hey, it doesn’t matter where you are. Terrorist attacks can happen.’ We are in a very pivotal time in the day and age we live in and you can’t rule out that there is always somebody out there that wants to hurt you. Unfortunately, it is just the world we live in.”
