this is the second knife attack in Columbus this year, yes?
wasn’t there one in the first part of the year?
There were reports of shots fired, which later turned out to be those of law enforcement, but without knowing that for a fact at the time, imo it was prudent for the text messages to warn of active shooting on the campus.
Probably increasing hatred and discrimination is a trigger that pushes a few over the edge into their own hate and acts (violent or otherwise) based on that. Unfortunately, it is a vicious cycle, where hate causes other people to hate back, etc…
Or … it could be he decided to join the ISIS global terror campaign. See the following link:
Especially, the specific call to “Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him”.
From that linked article a quote purported to be from the attacker:
‘This place is huge, and I don’t even know where to pray. I wanted to pray in the open, but I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media. I’m a Muslim, it’s not what the media portrays me to be. If people look at me, a Muslim praying, I don’t know what they’re going to think, what’s going to happen,’ Artan said.
We don’t know if it is a terror attack, we don’t know if it was planned or an impulse triggered by something random if the student was a deranged mind preyed upon by terrorists, etc. Right now, though, the MO makes me think of the St Cloud, Reutligen, and St.Etienne attacks + hints of the Nice attack (ram into people with vehicle).
A hypothesis that researchers have developed regarding Western-educated kids who join terrorist groups linked to cultish forms of Islam (such as Daesh ie., Isis) is “islamization of radicality”. Youths who, in the 70’s, would have been attracted to groups like the weather underground or wanted to “join the fight” in third world revolutions (beside Che tee shirts), are attracted today by a form of purity and idealism terrorists sell them. “purify by fire” + bring about a new heaven (isis in particular wants to hasten the end of times - in their particular mythology, they participate in battles against evil during the apocalypse.) They’d be radicals in any case, sometimes violent radicals, they’re caught by islamist terrorists who feed them and use them. The weakest kids - needy or looking for something or ready to believe - are targeted. They’re completely brainwashed through videogame imagery (boys) or “cute and humanitarian” imagery (girls), through youtube and “dark” facebook groups, with chats. Parents never know, never suspect a thing. The kids are fed lie upon lie, told they’ll help make the world better. And then they’re groomed for violent action.
It’s like the Manson family on a global, connected scale.
(There are also the mentally disturbed, which are an easy target, and the riff-raffs and assorted lowlifes to whom they promise a pardon in heaven so that they reach an exalted form of self regard when they go from lowlife to martyr in their mind.)
Once they’ve been groomed, they can be “activated”, anything can be a trigger. I don’t know if that’s what happened - lone wolf, cell, deranged madman…
In Europe, manyof the young people who left for Syria or attacked aren’t Muslim (they either have Muslim parents who aren’t religious, or aren’t related to Islam in any way. That’s especially true for girls, who are sold on a prince charming who’ll “respect” them “unlike gross Western 16 year olds who watch porn”, plus if they leave for life in “sham” - the promised land- they’ll do god’s work by helping struggling families, taking care of babies, teaching, having responsibilities in humanitarian situations… I’m not making this up unfortunately. Boys are supposed to take on a “mantle of courage” and strike fear and death.)
I saw an incredible film titled “Heaven will wait” which explains how they go from normal kid to killer - the two main characters are composites for real teens.
(subtitled clip)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkAG5WilU18
(without subtitles - it looks like the US market hasn’t snapped it. Hopefully it’ll be brought here soon because it’s timely.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLX1rRDDxhU&t=8s
If that were true (police do not yet appear to have mentioned a motive in their investigation), that would not be inconsistent with being stimulated to do so by increasing hatred and discrimination. Daesh and other hate groups try to recruit those disaffected by real or perceived hatred and discrimination against their identity.
^real or perceived expressions of rejection, hate speech, or discrimination, often served as triggers in the European attacks.
@soccerguy315 That’s correct. A knife attack in a popular restaurant that we frequently visit, about 10 miles from campus.
Local news is reporting that it is a Somali-born freshman. Romani, I agree it is terrible. Relations with immigrants in Columbus have generally been very good. When something like this happens we have to work extra hard to resist rushing to easy, generic conclusions.
W is a faculty member, but they don’t know anything more yet than anyone else at this point. She said she used her facebook “safe” notification for the first time today. My B actually called me from Chicago to say she was safe before I knew that anything was going on.
Some of the media have reported that the suspect is a new junior transfer student.
My son is a freshman and was sheltered in place in his Calc lecture classroom after barricading their classroom door (which in hindsight was unnecessary but all they knew at the time was that there was an active shooter alert. I’m hearing so many positive stories of individuals stepping up - “military guys” who were students in an MBA class guarding the door and the like. And am thankful that a 28 year old campus police office (barely out of college himself) performed like a seasoned veteran and ended the violence such that there were no fatalities. I’m sorry for him that he has to carry the weight of taking another life but he is absolutely a hero. And I am thankful the assailant had no gun of his own. He was not able to kill anyone with his car or knife but I’m not sure the outcome would have been so positive if he had a gun.
@ucbalumnus seems he had his AA from Columbus State which is a feeder CC to OSU and so yes, was a junior.
Could have been a dual enrolled student who got his AA alongside his high school diploma, too.
18 or 20, what a tragic end to a young life - whether it was psychosis or terrorism, whatever led him to try and kill fellow students is horrible for all involved. (I keep thinking of his parents - they must be thinking “this isn’t the son I knew” :()
I agree on calling “hero” the campus police who reacted quickly - by all accounts he evaluated the situation, called for backup/emergency, and made the right call in a split second. This is remarkable.
I am glad that @OHMomof2 and @adlgel’s children /children they know are okay.
I shudder at the thought of the assailant getting his hands on the modified machine gun used in Orlando. 
He wasn’t raised in the US.
He didn’t come to the US till 2014 and had spent 7 years in Pakistan before hand. Likely radicalized in Pakistan, or in Somali (which lead him to Pakistan).
Nuts come in many varieties.
Hard to know exactly what the motivations were, but social isolation, anger and mental illness are common ingredients in the attacker’s cocktail in addition to ideology and religious zealotry. Va Tech, UCSB, Colombine, etc. University of Colorado was locked down in October when police killed a machete wielding attacker who was an ex U.S. Marine muttering about finding sinners.
I can’t compare this fellow to the student radicals of the Weather Underground. The Weathermen were clearly wrong in their crimes, but their complaints about U.S. society were legitimate.
Any news on how the victims are doing? I really hope all are able to survive with no serious lasting damage.
The weathermen wanted to violently overthrow the US government and establish a worldwide communist society. There is nothing whatsoever that is legitimate about that
It’s not unique to the US. There’s been attacks in Brussels, France, and Germany. While we can’t say what pushed any given nutjob over the edge, until ISIS is eradicated, their ideology will continue to spread and more attacks like this will happen.