--- description: Authorities identified Abdul Razak Ali Artan as the suspect who drove his car into a crowd at Ohio State University before stabbing people title: What to Know About Ohio State University Attacker Abdul Razak Ali Artan image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteddf1534a11b0c41/6988afe5ab6d771d496ac15c/abdul_razak_ali_artan_osu.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What to Know About Ohio State University Attacker Abdul Razak Ali Artan by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:35 AM CUTPublished: Nov 28, 2016 10:30 PM CUT  This August 2016 image provided by the Lantern shows Abdul Razak Ali Artan in Columbus, Ohio This August 2016 image provided by the Lantern shows Abdul Razak Ali Artan in Columbus, OhioKevin Stankiewicz—The Lantern/AP by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:35 AM CUTPublished: Nov 28, 2016 10:30 PM CUT Authorities identified Abdul Razak Ali Artan as the suspect who barreled his car into a crowd at [Ohio State University](http://time.com/4583538/ohio-state-active-shooter-warning/ "undefined") before getting out and attacking people with a knife in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday morning. Here is what we know about him so far: **What did he do?** Artan, who was shot and killed by a police officer on Monday, drove a car over a curbside and into a crowd of people near a classroom building. He then got out and began stabbing people with a butcher knife. Eleven people were [injured in the attack](http://time.com/4583587/ohio-state-university-attack/?xid=homepage "undefined") and taken to the hospital. A motivation has not been established, but according to the Associated Press, police are investigating whether the [attack was an act of terrorism](http://time.com/4584489/ohio-state-attack-terrorism-links/?xid=homepage "undefined"). **Who was he?** Artan was a student at OSU, who was born in Somalia and living in the U.S. as a legal permanent resident. In a short August [interview](https://issuu.com/thelantern/docs/082516 "undefined") with OSU campus newspaper the _Lantern_, Artan said he had just transferred to the university from Columbus State Community College and was having trouble finding a place to pray. “I wanted to pray in the open, but I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media,” he said. “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.” The piece listed Artan as a third-year student majoring in logistics management. Officials at Columbus State confirmed Artan had attended the school and graduated with an associate of arts degree, the New York _Times_ [reported](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/us/active-shooter-ohio-state-university.html "undefined"). He graduated cum laude and was on the college’s dean’s list in 2015. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4584259/ohio-state-university-attack-artan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4584259/ohio-state-university-attack-artan/"},"headline":"What to Know About Ohio State University Attacker Abdul Razak Ali Artan","datePublished":"2016-11-28T22:30:04.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T00:35:54.000Z","description":"He was shot and killed by a police officer on Monday","url":"https://time.com/4584259/ohio-state-university-attack-artan/","keywords":["Ohio"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteddf1534a11b0c41/6988afe5ab6d771d496ac15c/abdul_razak_ali_artan_osu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteddf1534a11b0c41/6988afe5ab6d771d496ac15c/abdul_razak_ali_artan_osu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Abdul Razak Ali Artan","caption":"This August 2016 image provided by The Lantern shows Abdul Razak Ali Artan in Columbus, Ohio.","creditText":"Kevin Stankiewicz—The Lantern/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4584259/ohio-state-university-attack-artan/","name":"What to Know About Ohio State University Attacker Abdul Razak Ali Artan"}}]}] ```