A Somali refugee carried out a vehicle-ramming and stabbing attack at Ohio State University in 2016, injuring 13 people before being shot dead by police.
Key Facts
- Date of attack
- November 28, 2016
- Time of attack
- 9:52 a.m. EST
- Injured
- 13 people
- Attacker
- Abdul Razak Ali Artan, Somali refugee
- Attacker's fate
- Shot and killed by first responding OSU police officer
- Claimed by
- Amaq News Agency (ISIL-linked)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a Somali Muslim refugee and Ohio State University student, was reportedly inspired by terrorist propaganda from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. No direct contact between Artan and ISIL was established, though the group's Amaq News Agency claimed he acted on a call to attack coalition citizens.
On November 28, 2016, at 9:52 a.m. EST, Artan drove a vehicle into pedestrians and then attacked bystanders with a butcher knife at Watts Hall on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, Ohio. He injured 13 people before being shot and killed by the first OSU police officer to arrive on the scene.
All 13 victims were hospitalized for their injuries. Law enforcement immediately launched a terrorism investigation, and by the following day officials publicly confirmed the attack was an act of terrorism inspired by ISIL propaganda. The incident prompted renewed discussion about campus security and lone-wolf radicalization in the United States.