The FBI’s Cincinnati Division announced Tuesday that although Abdul Razak Ali Artan was influenced by extremist Islamic ideology, he acted alone in an attack at The Ohio State University (OSU) on Nov. 28, 2016.
Just before 10 a.m. that morning, Artan drove his Honda Civic into a crowd on campus, got out of the car and began slashing victims. Soon after he exited his vehicle, Ohio State police officer Alan Horujko shot and killed Artan.
No victims died in the attack, but 13 were injured.
“The perpetrator appears to have been influenced by extremist ideology, including Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) propaganda,” said FBI public affairs specialist Todd Lindgren in a statement released by the FBI, but the FBI believes he had no direct contact with the terror organizations.
NBC news reported at the time that the Somali-born Artan ranted on social media. “If you want us Muslims to stop carrying lone wolf attacks, then make peace,” Artan wrote. “Stop interfering with other countries, especially the Muslim Ummah.” He also reportedly referred to late Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
OSU newspaper The Lantern reported earlier this year that Artan had dropped all of his classes a couple of weeks before the attack, and according to advisers at the school had lost his motivation academically.
A few months before the attack, The Lantern interviewed Artan, who had just transferred to OSU from Columbus State University. In the interview, he expressed concern about being able to pray at OSU, noting that prayer rooms were available at Columbus State.
“I wanted to pray in the open, but I was scared with everything going on in the media,” he told the paper. “I’m a Muslim, it’s not what the media portrays me to be.”
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