Ohio State attack: Eleven injured after stabbing rampage on university campus
Updated
A man ploughed 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 a police officer, authorities say.
Key points:
- Eleven people were hurt, one critically
- The man was a Somali-born student at the school and US permanent resident
- Police say they are investigating the possibility it was a terrorist attack
Eleven people were hurt, one critically, and police said they were investigating the possibility it was a terrorist attack.
A director of public safety said the man, who has been identified as Abdul Razak Ali Artan, was a student at the school.
A US official told AP that he was born in Somalia and living in the United States as a legal permanent resident.
The FBI and other agencies have joined the investigation.
The details of the attack started to emerge 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."
"Run, hide, fight" is standard protocol for active shooter situations. It means: Run, evacuate if possible; Hide, get silently out of view; or Fight, as a last resort, take action to disrupt or incapacitate the shooter if your life is in imminent danger.
The warning was apparently prompted by what turned out to be police gunfire.
Numerous police vehicles and ambulances converged on the 60,000-student campus, and authorities blocked off roads. Students hunkered down indoors as officers swarmed the grounds.
Ohio State Police Chief Craig Stone said that the assailant deliberately drove over a curb outside a classroom building and that an officer who was nearby because of a gas leak arrived on the scene and shot the driver in less than a minute.
Students recall 'moments of chaos'
At least two people were being treated for stab wounds, four were injured by the car and two others were being treated for cuts, university officials said.
The attack came as students were returning to classes following the Thanksgiving holiday break and Ohio State's football victory over rival Michigan that brought more than 100,000 fans to campus on Saturday.
Graduate student Angshuman Kapil was outside the building when the car barrelled 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," Mr Schneider said, adding that the man did not say anything when he got out.
Rachel LeMaster, who works in the engineering college, said a fire alarm sounded on campus.
"There were several moments of chaos," she said.
"We barricaded ourselves like we're supposed to since it was right outside our door and just hunkered down."
Ms LeMaster said she and others were eventually led outside the building and she saw a body on the ground.
Cassidie Baker, an Ohio State senior, said she saw police or paramedics helping one person on the ground outside Watts Hall.
"No one really knows what is happening, other than there's an active shooter," she said.
The shelter-in-place warning was lifted and the campus declared secure after about an hour and a half, with police concluding there was no second attacker, as rumoured.
After the active shooter warning was lifted and the university declared the scene secure, the school said all classes would be cancelled for the rest of the day.
University spokesman Ben Johnson issued a statement that made no mention of any gunfire other than the shooting of the suspect.
"Our top priority remains the safety and security of our campus community," he said.
AP
Topics: community-and-society, law-crime-and-justice, united-states
First posted
