WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is seeking the immigration and criminal history of the man who launched an attack on Ohio State University’s campus Monday, leaving 11 people injured. Abdul Razak Ali Artan, the student at the university who crashed his vehicle into a crowd before getting out and slashing people with a knife, is believed to be a refugee originally from Somalia.
According to reports, federal investigators believe Artan was inspired by ISIS and the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, and are treating the incident as an act of terrorism. An ISIS propaganda website also called Artan a “soldier.”
In a letter late yesterday to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Grassley is requesting all records related to Artan’s immigration and criminal history to gain a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding his arrival into the United States as well as any subsequent encounters with immigration or law enforcement authorities.
