'He was a good kid': Friend of Florida Institute of Technology attacker reflects on 18-year-old

Friends of FIT attacker react to incident

FOX 35's Holly Bristow has the story.

MELBOURNE, Fla. - An 18-year-old freshman at Florida Tech says he would like people to know a different side of his close friend, Alhaji Sow, 18.

"He was a good kid. He was really calm, really relaxed," said Sow’s friend, who preferred not to be named.

Officers say Sow used a knife to chase students at Roberts Hall dormitory around 11 p.m. Friday.

Police say when officers and campus security confronted Sow, he lunged at them with the weapon. That’s when investigators say they shot him and he died at the scene.

"He was always nice to us. He was always making sure we were OK. If any of us were upset, he would come and talk to us and try and cheer us up. He was a good friend, a good person," he said.

He says he was with Sow shortly before the attack.

"He just seemed a little bit out of it that day. We were just hanging out in my room, and he got up and left, and none of us really noticed in that moment. He just said that he was going up and going to his dorm," he said.

He added, "Something definitely changed him that night and we don’t know what."

The school has not said how many students were hurt, just that no students were taken to the hospital.