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Update: Police Now Search For Motive

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Update 7:30 a.m.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Investigators are looking into whether a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University that injured 11 people was an act of terror.

Authorities say the attacker deliberately plowed his car into a group of pedestrians on campus Monday morning, and then got out and began stabbing people with a butcher knife before he was fatally shot by a campus police officer.

The attacker has been identified as Abdul Razak Ali Artan.

A motive is not known, but police say they’re investigating whether it was a terrorist attack.

A U.S. official told The Associated Press Monday that Artan was born in Somalia and was a legal permanent U.S. resident. The official was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Classes at Ohio State are scheduled to resume Tuesday.


Update 4:40 p.m.

Authorities say the officer who killed an attacker at Ohio State University was a university police officer who’d been on the job for less than two years.

Department of Public Safety Director Monica Moll identified the officer as 28-year-old Alan Horujko. She says he started on the Ohio State police force in January 2015.

Ohio State Police Chief Craig Stone says it was fortunate there was a nearby gas leak that the officer had gone to investigate. Stone says it helped position Horujko to respond to the attack so quickly.

Those injured in the attack included an Ohio State faculty member, four graduate students and three undergrads.

Authorities say they were able to get photos of the suspect’s vehicle driving onto campus and confirmed only one person was in the car.


Update 4:10 p.m.

A director of public safety says a man who drove a car into pedestrians and began stabbing people at Ohio State was a student at the school.

Ohio State Department of Public Safety Director Monica Moll also identified the now-deceased suspect as Abdul Razak Ali Artan.

A U.S. official earlier told The Associated Press that he was born in Somalia and living in the United States as a legal permanent resident. The official wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing case and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Authorities say Artan was shot to death by a police officer Monday morning shortly after he drove up onto a curb into pedestrians, got out of the car and began stabbing people with a butcher knife.

Nine people were injured, including one critically.

Update 3:30 p.m.

A police chief says authorities are looking into whether the attack at Ohio State University was related to terrorism.

Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs was asked at a news conference Monday afternoon whether authorities were considering the possibility that it was a terror attack.

Jacobs says, “I think we have to consider that it is.”

Authorities say a man purposely plowed his car over a curb and into pedestrians on Monday morning before jumping out of the car and attacking people with a butcher knife. A police officer who was nearby because of an earlier gas leak was on the scene in a minute and shot and killed the attacker.

The FBI and other agencies joined the investigation.

Authorities say nine people were hurt, one of them critically.


Update 2:00 p.m.

Authorities are now saying nine people were injured at Ohio State University when an attacker purposely drove over a curb and into pedestrians and then got out of the vehicle and began stabbing people with a butcher knife.

Ohio State Police Chief Craig Stone says eight of the victims are in stable condition and one victim is in critical condition after the attack Monday. Authorities said two people had been stabbed, four people had been hurt by a car and two others were treated for lacerations.

The injuries to the ninth person weren’t immediately clear.

Earlier, hospital officials said that eight people had non-life-threatening injuries.

Stone says an officer who was nearby because of an earlier gas leak shot and killed the male suspect.


Update 1:10 a.m.

Ohio State police say the attacker on campus purposely drove over a curb and into pedestrians and then got out of the vehicle and began stabbing people with a butcher knife.

Police Chief Craig Stone spoke early Monday afternoon at a news conference.

Authorities also said police believe that there was only one attacker. Ohio State said earlier that the suspect had been shot and killed.

The university had sent out a series of tweets at around 10 a.m. Monday saying there was an active shooter on campus and that shooters should run, hide or fight. About an hour and a half later, the university said a shelter-in-place warning had been lifted and the scene was secure.

Authorities said later that it doesn’t appear that the suspect used a gun in the attack.


Update 12:50

A spokesman for Ohio State University says a suspect in an attack on campus that injured at least eight people has been shot and killed.

Ben Johnson also said Monday that injuries in the attack included stab wounds and being struck by a vehicle.

A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the suspect is believed to have initially struck people with a car before beginning to stab victims. There was no indication that the suspect shot anyone. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The details started to emerge after a morning of confusion and conflicting reports that began with the university issuing tweets warning students that there was an “active shooter” on campus near the engineering building and that they should “run, hide, fight.”


Update 11:35

Ohio State University says a shelter-in-place warning has been lifted and the scene is secure following reports of an active shooter and at least seven people injured.

Ohio State tweeted Monday morning that all classes would be canceled for the rest of the day.

The university had warned students in a series of tweets earlier Monday that there was an active shooter on campus and that they should run, hide or fight.

The Columbus Fire Department says seven people had been taken to the hospital. It says two of those people were in stable condition. It didn’t have details on the other five.


Update 10:45 p.m.

The fire department says seven people have been sent to the hospital after an active shooter was reported at Ohio State University.

The Columbus Fire Department says two of those people are in stable condition. It had no information on the other five people.

Ohio State University warned students in a series of tweets Monday morning that there was an active shooter on campus and that they should run, hide or fight.

One tweet says: “Buckeye Alert: Active Shooter on campus. Run Hide Fight. Watts Hall. 19th and College.” Watts Hall is a materials science and engineering building.

It is not immediately clear if the shooting is still in progress.


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio State University is telling students there’s an active shooter on campus and they should “Run Hide Fight.”

Ohio State’s official Twitter page retweeted a post from OSU Emergency Management saying there is an active shooter on campus in Columbus on Monday morning.

The tweet says: “Buckeye Alert: Active Shooter on campus. Run Hide Fight. Watts Hall. 19th and College.” Watts Hall is a materials science and engineering building.

“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.

A Columbus police dispatcher declined to comment on the reports, but police vehicles were seen at the scene.