Students attacked at Ohio State University

An 18-year-old Somali man was behind an attack involving a car and butcher knife on the campus of Ohio State University Monday that left nine people injured.  The suspect was identified as OSU student Abdul Razak Ali Artan at a Monday afternoon news conference.

After the suspect plowed his vehicle into the crowd, officials said he got out of the vehicle and began attacking  people.  The attacker came into the United States as a Somali refugee, and was granted status as a legal permanent resident.

The motive behind the attack is still unclear, according to law enforcement sources, but investigators are not ruling out anything at this point.

11 people were injured at the Columbus, Ohio school, one critically.

28-year-old police officer Alan Horujko, who joined the force in January 2015, was credited with taking down the suspect less than a minute after he responded to the scene.

Campus police responded opening fire on the suspect killing him. A butcher knife was recovered at the scene.

Reports of a fire alarm pulled at Watts Hall, initiating the incident were not accurate, said an official during a news conference Monday afternoon.

Initially, a large number of police including SWAT and bomb team members were responding to a report of an active shooter at about 10 a.m. on the north campus.

The suspect did not appear to have a gun, said an official.

 

 

Early in the incident, students and staff were warned via social media to shelter in place and to "run, hide, fight."

Orders to shelter in place were lifted about 90 minutes later. Classes were canceled for the remainder of the day.