Fox News is quoting unidentified law enforcement sources who believe that the perpetrator of Monday’s bloody car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University in Columbus was “self-radicalized,” a revelation that could cause force liberal critics of President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration policies to do some backtracking, or scramble to change the subject.
Abdul Razak Ali Artan was a legal resident alien from Somalia who came here as a youth. On Monday, he slammed a car into a crowd of OSU students and then began slashing people with a butcher’s knife until he was killed by a campus police officer. CNN reported that he might have been inspired by terrorist propaganda.
Artan reportedly left grim messages on Facebook declaring, “America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially the Muslim Ummah. We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that.”
According to Fox, Artan also stated, “Every single Muslim who disapproves of my actions is a sleeper cell, waiting for a signal. I am warning you Oh America!”
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
This revelation comes a day after ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, according to WGME News.
The incident has re-ignited the debate over allowing refugees from Muslim nations into the country. During the campaign, Trump fell under heavy criticism for suggestions that refugees should face “extreme vetting.”
In another embarrassing bit of fallout from this incident, several anti-gunners including Sen. Tim Kaine and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility all issued knee-jerk statements complaining about “gun violence” following the attack. Initially, it was reported as an “active shooter” situation, but that quickly changed as law enforcement sources and witnesses said Artan was armed with a knife.
Authorities are continuing the investigation, but the attack may reinforce concerns about domestic terrorism. On June 12, 29-year-old Omar Mateen stormed The Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and wounding dozens more. He was killed by Orlando police following a three-hour standoff.
Last December, in San Bernardino, California, the husband-and-wife team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik gunned down 14 people and wounded 22 others in an attack at the Inland Regional Center.
In May 2015, two men identified as Elton Simpson and Nadir Hamid Soofi were killed by police when they tried to storm an exhibit of cartoon images of Muhammad at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. A third man was convicted earlier this year of aiding them.
Related:
Think Progress: Somalis real victims of OSU terror attack
Dem. Congressman Schiff says OSU ‘bears hallmarks of terror attack’
Was Ohio State University car, knife attack domestic terrorism?
