Ohio State knife attack leaves 11 students injured

Kate Sinz, Reporter
December 12, 2016

College should be rigorous, not life-threatening.

This undated image provided by the Ohio State University Police shows officer Alan Horujko. A Somali-born Ohio State University student plowed his car into a group of pedestrians on campus and then got out and began stabbing people with a knife Monday, Nov. 28, 2016, before he was shot to death by a police officer. The officer who gunned the attacker down was identified Horujko, a nearly two-year member of the force. (Ohio State University Police via AP)

On Monday, November 29th, Ohio State was put on lockdown.

It was just before ten in the morning when the incident took place. According to NBC News, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, sophomore at Ohio State University, swerved into a crowd of students and stabbed people with a butcher knife.

The attack put 11 people in the hospital. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the act, and called Artan their soldier, according to The Washington Post.

Despite this claim, it is still unknown whether Artan did in fact act on behalf of ISIS, which often has claimed responsibility for many attacks in which it had no actual involvement in.

Artan was a Somali refugee, according to NBC News, but he lived in Pakistan from 2007 to 2014 before moving to the United States. He attended Columbus State Community College for two years and then moved to Ohio State after getting an associate’s degree at Columbus State to continue his studies.

The campus publication did an interview with him for their campus publication, The Lantern, which quoted him saying that on his first day at Ohio State he was, “kind of scared” to pray in public. According to The Washington Post, some presumed that these frustrations may have been a factor in the attack. Artan also had a “social media rant” about the treatment of Muslims; however, the motive for the attack still remains unknown. Classes were canceled on the day of the incident, but students did return the next day.