FORT LAUDERDALE, FL (WCMH) — A Columbus man in Fort Lauderdale with his wife and mother-in-law says he stood just feet from the shooter at the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport Friday afternoon when shots rang out.

“I heard a couple more pops and people on either side of where I was standing fell to the ground, they had been shot,” John Schlicher told NBC’s Lester Holt. “As I turned, I looked and saw the shooter standing in the middle of the kind of a hallway that runs adjacent to all of the baggage claims. And he was holding a gun firing.”

Schlicher said he was just 15 feet from the shooter when the shooting started.

“It was a horrific scene. The people that were killed were right next to where we were. One gentleman who was shot, they were almost, I think all of them were shot in the head. The one that was right next to me and my wife took my mother-in-law’s sweater and put direct pressure on his wound. He had been shot in the face. He told her that he was on Coumadin, so he was bleeding a great deal. There was blood everywhere,” Schlicher said. “He came over and was in our area, like within feet of where we were and still shooting people. When I looked, I was laying on the ground and I looked to the side and I just saw people bleeding out all around me.”

“It truly is only by the grace of God that we’re alive,” said Schlicher.

A professor at Ohio Wesleyan University was in Terminal 1 at the time of the shooting. Dr. Paul Kostyu, a journalism professor, told NBC4 he and other passengers felt safe after they heard the gunman had been captured. But then, something triggered panic in his terminal as well.

“People were diving under seats, hiding under…check in desks,” he said. “People were cowered together. Some took off outdoors, some took off down the ramp to the jet and were in the jet. I was trying to take pictures.”

The shooting started just before 1pm in Terminal 2 of the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport. According to authorities, five people were killed and eight others injured.READ MORE: Gunman kills 5 people, wounds 8 at Fort Lauderdale airport