A Muslim man plowed his car into a group of pedestrians at Ohio State University and then got out and began stabbing people with a butcher knife before he was shot to death by an officer Monday morning, campus police said.
Eleven people were hurt, one critically, and Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs said police were looking into whether it was a terrorist attack. The FBI and other agencies joined the investigation.
Monica Moll, the school’s public safety director, identified the suspect as Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a student at OSU.
Authorities said they were able to get photos of the suspect’s vehicle driving onto campus and confirmed only one person was in the car.
The details emerged after a morning of confusion and conflicting reports that began with the university issuing a series of tweets warning students that there was an “active shooter” on campus near the engineering building and that they should “run, hide, fight.”
Numerous police vehicles and ambulances converged on the 60,000-student campus, and authorities blocked off roads.
Ohio State Police Chief Craig Stone said that Artan drove over a curb outside a classroom building and that officer Alan Horujko, who was nearby because of a gas leak, shot the driver in less than a minute. Horujko, 28, started on the Ohio State police force in January 2015.
‘It just hit everybody who was in front’
Angshuman Kapil, a graduate student, was outside the building 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!”‘
Student Martin Schneider said he heard the car’s engine revving.
“I thought it was an accident initially until I saw the guy come out with a knife,” Schneider said, adding that the man didn’t say anything when he got out
