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Student’s library books stopped FSU gunman’s bullets

Posted at 8:17 PM, Nov 20, 2014
and last updated 2014-11-20 20:17:51-05

Call it a miracle or an act of luck – either way, one Florida State University student who witnessed Thursday’s shooting says a theology book saved his life.

“You want him home. You just want him home.”

Linda and Donald Derfuss got the call every parent dreads:

“Dad, dad a guy just shot somebody outside Strozier Library.”

Their son Jason Derfuss, is a senior at FSU. A graduate of Orangewood Christian caught in the gunfire.

“As I walked down the stairs of Strozier, I heard what was unmistakably behind me, a gunshot,” says Jason.

Jason had just checked out three books from the library – when the gunman opened fire.

He says he saw a fellow student gunned down just 50 feet away from him.

“My body was kind of in shock. I didn’t know what to do.”

Jason made it home.

It was then he truly knew how close that gunshot he heard behind him was.

“Two of the books that I checked out had bullet holes in them.”

And in the third book – ironically for his religious theology class – the bullet.

“I know God’s watching out for me. There’s really no other way to explain it.”

“I have a whole new light on Thanksgiving this year being thankful for the fact that he’s….he’s alive,” says Linda.