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Police mull terror link in Ohio rampage
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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 10am on Monday, and then got out and began stabbing people with a butcher’s 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 US resident, according to a US official who was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The FBI joined the investigation.
Angshuman Kapil, a graduate student, saw the car hit 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.
Four remained hospitalized yesterday morning, the hospitals said.
Several prayer vigils were held Monday night to support the victims and the community.
Students said they were nervous about returning to lectures and planned to take precautions such as not walking alone.
“It’s kind of nerve-wracking going back to class right after it,” said Kaitlin Conner, 18, of Cleveland, who said she had a midterm exam to take yesterday.
Federal law enforcement officials have raised concerns about online extremist propaganda that encourages knife and car attacks, which are easier to pull off than bombings.
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.
Leaders of Muslim groups and mosques in the Columbus area condemned the attack and cautioned against jumping to conclusions or blaming a religion or an ethnicity.
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