By Areena Arora, Managing Editor
On Monday, Nov. 28, an Ohio State student carried out a knife attack, injuring 11 people before being taken down by the police.
Before the attack, Abdul Razak Ali Artan rammed into a group of people in a car. The injured include at least one faculty member, one staff member and seven students, according to OSU’s student newspaper The Lantern.
Artan was an 18-year-old Somali refugee, a third-year Logistics Management student. OSU police officer Alan Horujko tackled and shot him.
According to The Columbus Dispatch and The Lantern, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed Tuesday, Nov. 29 that the attacker Artan was inspired by the organization.
ISIS said, according to a tweet posted by Jenan Moussa, a reporter at Arabic Al Aan TV, “ISIS takes credit for Ohio University attack. Says attacker was soldier of the Islamic State.”
Investigators are still looking into the motive of the attack to determine if the attack was related to terrorism. According to a CNN article published on the day of the incident, the attacker Artan had posted on his Facebook acccount that he was “sick and tired of seeing fellow Muslims killed and tortured,” according to federal law enforcement officials.
According to OSU’s Department of Public Safety, the initial emergency alert notification was sent out to students, faculty and staff at 9:54 a.m. The next alert, sent out just two minutes later, said “Buckeye Alert: Active shooter on campus. Run Hide Fight. Watts Hall. 19th and College.”
At 12:21 p.m., another alert was sent out saying that a suspect had been shot and reported dead.
In a campus-wide email sent out by OSU president Michael Drake, he said, “Days such as these test our spirit as Buckeyes — but together we remain unified in the face of adversity.”
At a press conference later that evening, Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich said, “When you think about the students, the parents, many of whom were texting and Snapchatting their kids — it’s remarkable what these first responders did … There would be a lesson for all across America and all the campuses across America about what you do when things like this happen.”
In a story published in The Lantern on Aug. 25, Artan is quoted to have said that after he recently transferred from Columbus State Community College, he was scared of his identity as a Muslim on OSU’s campus.
Artan said, “We had prayer rooms, like actual rooms where we could go to pray because we Muslims have to pray five times a day … [OSU’s campus] is huge and I don’t even know where to pray … I wanted to pray in the open, but I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media … If people look at a Muslim praying, I don’t know what they’re going to think.”
A vigil was held Tuesday evening at St. John’s Arena, according to The Lantern. “Members of the OSU marching band and the OSU music group CELLOHIO performed at the event,” according to The Lantern.