9 Wounded, 1 Critically: What We Know About the Attack at Ohio State University
An attack Monday morning on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus left nine people wounded, one critically. The attacker drove a car into a crowd of people and then attacked bystanders with a butcher knife, according to reports. Approximately an hour and after placing the campus on lockdown, campus police called the stituation "stable," and lifted a "shelter in place" order for the campus.
At around 10am, students and faculty received the following message: "Buckeye Alert: Active shooter on campus. Run Hide Fight. Watts Hall. 19th and College,” from campus police. For a few confusing hours, it was assumed to be an active shooter situation.
Columbus Police sent a SWAT team, dog units, negotiators and a helicopter to the scene. The assailant was shot dead and one of the nine people rushed to the hospital is critically injured. The injuries ranged from stab wounds to injuries from the impact of the car, though none is reported as life threatening.
The attacker has been identified by law enforcement officals as 18-year-old Abdul Artan, student. No motive had been determined at press time for the attack.
For students just back from Thanksgiving holiday, it was a frightening and confusing few hours, with some barricading themselves in dorm rooms, and others worried about their friends who might have been near the part of campus where the attack occurred.
"I only checked my phone because I got flooded with messages that turned out to be ones asking me if I was safe and I didn't even realize this was happening," said Jenny Chen, a senior studying psychology at OSU, who was away from campus when the attack occurred. "Now I'm just scrambling to make sure that people I know are safe as well."
"The first thing I heard were screams," student Cydney Ireland told ABC News. "Probably five seconds after that there were three gunshots and it sounded like a handgun. "And I've never seen anything like it. Everybody was running in any direction they possibly could."
With 60,000 students, Ohio State is one of the largest universities in the country.
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