Campus attack could be latest terror case in heartland state
CINCINNATI — Authorities are investigating terrorism as a possible motive in the car-and-knife attack on the Ohio State University campus, the latest in a series of cases involving young men who apparently became radicalized in the heartland state.
They are still piecing together information on the activities of Abdul Razak Ali Artan, the Ohio State student killed Nov. 28 by a police officer after he ran his car into others and began slashing with a butcher knife. Among other recent cases that left people close to the suspects stunned, one man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, another will be sentenced Monday and another was arrested last month.
Their cases have similarities, but also differences, underscoring the challenges to understanding what causes someone to embrace Islamic State calls to violence and how to spot homegrown terrorists.
“The fact is, anybody can be a terrorist,” said James Forest, director of the Center for Terrorism and Security Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.