Ohio State attack: Terrorism eyed
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Investigators are looking into whether a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University that injured 11 people was an act of terror by a Somali-born student who had once criticized the media for its portrayal of Muslims.
The attacker, identified as Abdul Razak Ali Artan, plowed his car into a group of pedestrians on campus shortly before 10 a.m. Monday, and then got out and began stabbing people with a butcher knife before he was shot to death by a campus police officer, authorities said.
A motive was not immediately known, but police said they were investigating whether it was a terrorist attack.
Artan was born in Somalia and was a legal permanent U.S. resident, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The FBI joined the investigation.
Ohio State University Police Chief Craig Stone said Artan deliberately drove his small gray Honda over a curb outside an engineering classroom building and then began knifing people. Officer Alan Horujko, 28, who was nearby because of a gas leak arrived on the scene and shot the driver in less than a minute, Stone said.
Angshuman Kapil, a graduate student, was outside Watts Hall when the car barreled onto the sidewalk.
“It just hit everybody who was in front,” he said. “After that everybody was shouting, 'Run! Run! Run!'”
Eleven victims were taken to three Columbus hospitals. Most had been hurt by the car, and two had been stabbed, officials said. One had a fractured skull.
Several prayer vigils were held Monday night to support the victims and the community.
Classes at OSU were canceled after the attack, but were scheduled to resume today.
Students said they were nervous about returning and planned to take precautions, such as not walking alone.
“It's kind of nerve-racking going back to class right after it,” said Kaitlin Conner, 18, of Cleveland, who said she had a midterm exam to take today.
Rep. Adam Schiff, of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said the act bore the hallmarks of an attack carried out by someone who may have been self-radicalized.
The Islamic State group has urged sympathizers online to carry out lone-wolf attacks in their home countries with whatever weapons are available to them.
Artan was not known to the FBI before Monday's attack, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Dozens of FBI agents began searching Artan's apartment Monday night.
