Rev. John Schlicher of the St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Beavercreek called the experience at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport "surreal."
Schlicher's mother, who lives in Enon, said she spoke with her son after the shootings that resulted in five deaths at the Florida airport. Schlicher told her that a bullet went right over his head and the person next to him was killed, she said.
Schlicher, in an interview with Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, said the shooter, identified as Esteban Ruiz Santiago, wore a "Star Wars" T-shirt, did not utter a word and appeared to be alone.
"I heard the first shot and as I did, the person right next to me fell to the ground. It was very surreal," the pastor said.
He told Fox News the attacker, armed with a handgun, was firing into the crowd, which was waiting for their baggage.
"He just started shooting. I fell to the ground. He reloaded and began shooting again," Schlicher said.
The pastor, who is vacationing with his wife and her mother and was en route to the Panama Canal, said they all hit the floor and remained there until they saw a police officer approach and tell them it was OK to get up.
"My wife took a sweater from my mother-in-law and applied pressure to the man next to us. He’d been shot in the head," Schlicher said. "All the people had been shot in the head."
Schlicher said the man told his wife he was on [the medication] Coumadin. She put pressure on. When the ambulance arrived, he was still alive.
"The man next to him," he said. "They checked the vital signs and he was gone."
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