On Monday morning, nine people were taken to the hospital after a car plowed into a crowd of people at the campus of Ohio State University. The suspect then began stabbing people with a large knife until he was shot and killed by police responding to the attack. The suspect’s name is Abdul Razak Ali Artan, an 18-year-old student at the university.
From NBC News:
He was a Somali refugee who left his homeland with his family in 2007, lived in Pakistan and then came to the United States in 2014 as a legal permanent resident of the United States, officials said.
Artan was a transfer from Columbus State and a third-year student in logistics management.
In August, Artan discussed his faith with the university’s student newspaper The Lantern, in an issue titled “Humans of Ohio State.”
“I wanted to pray in the open, but I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media. I’m a Muslim, it’s not what the media portrays me to be. If people look at me, a Muslim praying, I don’t know what they’re going to think, what’s going to happen. But, I don’t blame them. It’s the media that put that picture in their heads so they’re just going to have it and it, it’s going to make them feel uncomfortable. I was kind of scared right now. But I just did it. I relied on God. I went over to the corner and just prayed.”
Initially, it was believed that Artan had a gun, but the shots that people on the campus heard ring out were fired by law enforcement.
One person was in critical condition after the ambush at the university where 60,000 students are enrolled.
The campus was on lockdown from around 10 a.m. until 11:30.
The motive was unknown, but officials said the attack was clearly deliberate and may have been planned in advance.
“This was done on purpose,” OSU Police Chief Craig Stone said.
“This car just swerved and ran into a whole group of people,” said Nicole Kreinbrink, who was walking down the street when she saw the car hit people.
“He was completely silent, which was very creepy. Not even when he was shot (by police),” a student told CNN. “The cop that subdued the guy with the knife saved so many lives today.”
Jacob Bowers, an OSU sophomore, was sitting on a bench about 100 feet away when he noticed people running.
“Then I heard someone yell, ‘He’s got a knife.’ And I saw a guy with a big-ass knife just chasing people around. When I saw that, I grabbed all my stuff and started running,” Bowers said.
“Luckily there were so many people, he couldn’t focus on one target,” Bowers said. “I didn’t see anyone get stabbed, but I saw the police officer take down the stabber. He waited ’til everyone was clear, and the stabber clearly wasn’t stopping. (It) took three shots to take him down. (The) stabber had a crazy look in his eyes.”
Bowers said a police officer arrived on the chaotic scene and the officer yelled to the suspect, “Drop it and get down or I’ll shoot,” and then fired on the suspect, Bowers said. “The man was going insane.”