NEWARK, Ohio, U.S.A. – An attack at The Ohio State University Monday morning injured 11 and rattled a campus community just returning from Thanksgiving break.
Computer Science and Engineering student Megan Knox was in class when someone warned the classroom about an emergency alert text they had received about an active shooter.
Initial reports of an active shooter were incorrect, as the only shots occurred when a campus police officer responding to the situation shot and killed the apparent attacker.
Knox and other students remained in shelter for about an hour and a half, she said. She and her classmates remained safe, but were still shaken.
“I couldn’t really like believe it,” said Knox afterward. “It was like, that kind of thing like happens, you hear about it, you know, you don’t experience it yourself.”
At a press conference hours later, campus police said Officer Alan Horujko – responding to an apparent assault on a group of students – shot and killed the assailant, later identified as OSU student Abdul Razak Ali Artan.
Horujko’s gunfire caused a campus wide emergency alert to be issued, warning the students to an active shooter and to take cover. Students were told to remain sheltered until the area was secured.
The attack left 11 people hospitalized, six of them at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, the rest at Riverside Methodist Hospital and Grant Medical Center. All are expected to
recover.
recover.
Officials said there isn’t yet a known motive for the attack, which is under investigation.
After the attack, Knox said she felt safe at the university.
“I feel more safe on campus than off campus most of the time,” she said.
Other officials praised the alert system at Ohio State University, which sent messages to students about the emergency. Officials also said they were happy that the students didn’t overreact
to the situation.
to the situation.
According to police, at 9:52 a.m., Artan drove a car into a group of students walking on a sidewalk. Horujko responded.
Artan produced a knife and injured several students with it, police said. At 9:53 a.m. Horujko shot and killed Artan on the scene.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who was at the press conference, praised emergency personnel, saying they used “amazing coordination.”
“It is remarkable what these first responders did,” said Kasich, adding that their work would be an example for other colleges of what to do in a similar situation.
Noah Adelsberger is a Junior Reporter for Youth Journalism International.