The Ohio State University will host a “moment of reflection” in the Ohio Union on Tuesday, the first anniversary of a car-and-knife attack that injured 13 people.
The Tuesday event is scheduled from 1-1:30 p.m. in the Ohio Union Great Hall.
The attack last November lasted just two minutes, and while the alleged perpetrator Abdul Artan didn’t kill anyone, it had an indelible impact on students and staff members who scrambled for safety.
Police say on the morning of Nov. 28, 2016, Artan, armed with a large knife, rammed his car into several pedestrians outside of Watts Hall before getting out and starting to slash people.
“All I knew was people were being hurt, and I didn’t like that,” says Ohio State police officer Alan Horujko, who fatally shot Artan after a foot chase that led to the nearby Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry building on Woodruff Avenue.
“I yelled after him multiple times, ‘Drop the knife! Drop the knife! Drop the knife!’" Horujko says. "But he never looked back at me. He never acknowledged me.”
Horujko made his comments in an Ohio State-produced video to mark the anniversary of the attack.
The attack led to a shutdown of much of campus and several safety alerts that initially told students and staff to “Run Hide Fight” because of an active shooter.
Earlier this year, Ohio State said it would make improvements to its safety alert system.
Police said Artan acted alone, and investigators later said Artan, a Somali refugee, was likely radicalized by a Muslim cleric with ties to ISIS and Al Qaida.
