A Somali-born man named Abdul Razak Ali Artan didn’t need a gun to carry out his evil attack on Ohio State University students on Monday. With his car and a butcher knife, Artan managed to injure nine people, one of whom is said to be in critical condition. Artan was ultimately shot and killed by a police officer, and now law enforcement authorities are trying to determine whether the attacks were inspired by Islamic ideology.
According to Ohio State Police Chief Craig Stone, Artan launched into the attack by driving over a curb and into students who were standing around outside a classroom building.
“It just hit everybody who was in front,” a student named Angshuman Kapil told the AP. “After that everybody was shouting, ‘run, run, run!'”
Artan reportedly exited his vehicle with the knife and began stabbing people at random.
The attack might have lasted longer had a police officer not been nearby. The officer was on campus due to an unrelated gas leak and was therefore able to quickly kill the assailant and undoubtedly save many lives.
Asked if authorities were investigating the attack as terrorism, Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs said, “I think we have to consider that it is.”
According to the AP, the attack fits a profile:
In recent months, 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 attacks in their home countries with whatever weapons are available to them.
ABC reports that Artan is a “legal permanent resident” of the United States and was a student at OSU. The network also said that law enforcement officials were trying to determine if Artan wrote a message on Facebook foreshadowing the attack.
“I am sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters being killed and tortured EVERYWHERE. I can’t take it anymore. America! Stop interfering with other countries if you want us Muslims to stop carrying lone wolf attacks,” the post says.
The story is still developing, but it already seems pretty clear what this is.
