A 20-year-old Ohio State University student, Ryan Morbitzer of Grove City, was shot in the chest while along E. 11th Avenue near Pearl Street at approximatley 2:30 a.m., according to an OSU Medical Center spokesman. He died in surgery at 5:35 a.m. Morbitzer was a resident of Steeb Hall.
Michael Weidner, an undecided freshman, tried to assist Morbitzer while he was lying on the sidewalk waiting for an ambulance.
“I heard the shots when I was sitting in my living room. I ran outside to help him. I asked him if he could feel his legs. I gave him my shirt. He just kept saying, “My back,” said Weidner.
Weidener said the suspects’ vehicle looked like a Chevy Blazer and said he believed that it was red.
Anne Bartoszek, a junior in English said she was on the porch at her residence across the street when the shooting occurred.
Bartoszek said Morbitzer was walking across the street when he was suddenly shot by someone riding in an older model sports utility vehicle.
“I turned my head and heard the gunshots. He turned, fell on his stomach. He started yelling, ‘Help, I’ve been shot, call the police!’ At first people were yelling to him, ‘Don’t joke around.’ In a few seconds everyone realized that this was for real. At least three houses called 911. The cops were here within a minute. The ambulance was here within five minutes,” said Bartoszek.
Bartoszek said she saw no earlier altercation take place between Morbitzer and those in the vehicle.
Weidner said that witnessing the shooting has raised his concern about where he lives.
“I walk down this street every day. It could have just as easily been me,” he said.
Columbus Division of Police Sgt. Earl Smith said the shooting appears to be a random act.
