Donte Dunnagan "was just protecting the lives of people he loves," Therese Buckhardt of Logan tells The Columbus Dispatch. "He would have done that for anybody; he has a big heart."
Police said a man armed with three knives entered an office building just blocks from the state Capitol on Wednesday afternoon and stabbed four men, the first an employee of Miami-Jacobs Career College.
The Columbus Police Department has scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference Thursday to provide new information on the attack.
The attacker was shot by police after running into the street.
Authorities said the attack left four men in critical condition and one with minor injuries.
Buckhardt says the 6-foot, 250-pound Dunnagan, a part-time professional wrestler, works in the Miami-Jacobs financial aid office and takes classes there.
Ric Connely, of Cincinnati, who wrestled Dunnagan in 2002 and now owns the World Wrestling Coalition, said he's not surprised to hear Dunnagan was a hero.
"If anyone was threatened, he would immediately rise to the occasion. He's a passionate man, a boisterous, very loud gentleman ... He's very big and very full of life," he told The Dispatch.
The man confronted the first victim in the admissions office of Miami-Jacobs and stabbed him, Columbus police spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner said. Others intervened and took away a knife the man was using but didn't realize he had others, Weiner said.
"We do know that one of the good Samaritans that came to aid the first victim, he was stabbed also," Weiner said.
Police have identified the victims and the attacker but haven't released their names, Weiner said. The state attorney general has offices in the 25-story building, and one of the injured worked there.
Two of the victims were either students or staff members at the privately run school, Weiner said. Two other victims were outside in the lobby area when they were attacked, he said. All the stabbings occurred on the first floor. Officials don't know whether they were random or stemmed from an earlier issue.
A knife was recovered inside the school, and two knives were found near the attacker outside after he had been shot.
Police would not describe the knives except to say they were bigger than pocket knives.
One officer used a stun gun on the attacker at around the time another officer shot him, Weiner said.
The attacker had a knife in each hand when he went at officers, said Jim Gilbert, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police.
Multiple shots were fired at the man by the officer who was closest to him, Gilbert said. The officer, who has been on the police force for 15 years, "did what she had to do," Gilbert said.
Weiner said the officer who shot the attacker was working nearby on a regularly scheduled patrol shift when she got the call and arrived first, followed by numerous other officers.
Columbus officers responded within a minute of 911 calls Wednesday to a "very chaotic scene" with people screaming, Gilbert said.
"Many citizens' lives were saved today because of the quick actions, quick response of the Columbus police officers that responded," he said.
The officer was taken to a hospital with a minor knee injury suffered as she was backing away when the attacker approached her, Gilbert said.
Jason Jackson, who works at Gordon's Gourmet in the building lobby, said he heard that someone had been stabbed, so he ran out of the building. When he went back to see what was happening, he saw the attacker outside.
"He had a knife, and the police had just pulled up, and they're saying, 'Sir, you need to stop. You need to just put the knife down.' He wouldn't," said Jackson, of Reynoldsburg. "They drew guns. 'Sir, please put the knife down.' And he kind of lunged at them, so they shot him."
College spokesman Chuck Vella said everyone must sign in before entering the admissions office. He said security personnel are at every campus of the college, which has five other locations around Ohio.
The for-profit trade school offers classes in massage therapy, security and investigation, criminal justice and court reporting. It was closed Thursday.
The college is owned by Delta Career Education Corp., based in Virginia Beach, Va. A receptionist at the company on Wednesday said no one wanted to talk about the stabbings.
The company's website said it has 37 campuses and 16,000 students nationwide.
