2016 Ohio State University Attack

Overview

The Ohio State University Attack was a car ramming attack and mass stabbing outside the Ohio State University (OSU) Watts Hall in Columbus, Ohio in late November 2016. After injuring 13 people, Somali refugee Abdul Razak Ali Artan was shot and killed on the scene. Authorities have stated that Artan was inspired to commit the attack by terrorist propaganda created by ISIS and the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

Background

On November 28th, 2016, students at the OSU Department of Materials Science and Engineering congregated in a courtyard outside the building after reporting a fluorine leak. Shortly after, Somali refugee Abdul Razak Ali Artan deliberately rammed a Honda Civic into several pedestrians in the area before crashing into a brick wall. He then exited the vehicle and attacked students with a butcher knife while letting out a loud war cry. After police arrived on the scene, the attacker was shot and killed by officer Alan Horujko. A total of 13 people were injured in the attack, with no fatal injuries. While initial reports referred to the event as an "active shooter incident," no firearms were found on the attacker or used in the attack.

Developments

Online Reactions

On November 28th, several threads about the "active shooter" reached the front page of various subreddits, including /r/news,^[1] /r/osu^[2] and /r/uncensorednews.^[3] That day, Redditor morgens16 post a video of a man riding a unicycle under a yellow tape barrier on the OSU campus to /r/gifs, where it received more than 8,900 votes (87% upvoted) and 1,700 comments in 48 hours (shown below).

After the attacker was identified, a "Humans of Ohio State" profile on Artan began circulating online, in which he expressed dismay for not knowing where to pray on campus, and that he did not want to be judged for being a Muslim (shown below).

Additionally, an OSU student tweeted a picture of a group assignment on microaggressions which included Artan (shown below). The tweet was subsequently deleted.

Tariq Nasheed's Tweet

Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter activist and podcast host Tariq Nasheed tweeted that it was "interesting" that the "white officer Alan Horujko" was being hailed as a hero for shooting the "Black Somali suspect" (shown below). Within 72 hours, the tweet gained over 870 likes and 650 retweets.

On November 29th, Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviewed Nasheed on television, where Nasheed said the police officer who shot and called Carlson a "suspected white supremacist" (shown below).

ISIS Response

On November 29th, ISIS released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack:

"The executor of the attack in the American state of Ohio is a soldier of the Islamic State and he carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of international coalition countries."

Search Interest

External References