By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The Ohio State University student who attacked people with his car and a knife Monday may have been inspired by ISIS, the FBI said Wednesday.
The attack injured 11 people before a university police officer shot and killed Abdul Razak Ali Artan.
Law enforcement officials believe Artan was radicalized online by radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the Washington Post reports.
“It certainly appears that he was radicalized online,” said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was briefed by law enforcement officials Wednesday. Shortly before the attack, Artan referred to Awlaki as “our hero” in a post on Facebook, U.S. officials said. Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011. He also expressed disdain for more moderate Islamic clerics, urging people to ignore “celebrity scholars who have sold their deen (religion).”
The FBI interviewed dozens of Artan’s family members, neighbors and co-workers and analyzed electronic devices and social media accounts used by the college junior.
Special Agent in Charge Angela Byers said investigators were “not aware of anyone else being involved in the planning of this attack,” but they were still patching together a timeline of the attack.
On the morning of the attack, Artan purchased a knife, Columbus police said.
