ali Artan: Posted radical rants before attack
A Somali-born student at The Ohio State University ran his car into a group of pedestrians on campus and then got out and hacked people with a butcher knife yesterday morning around ten. Eighteen year old Abdul Razak Ali Artan was shot and killed by Officer Alan Horujko of The Ohio State University Police Department, but not before his attack sent eleven to the hospital, including one who was critically injured. Depsite Facebook post referencing “lone wolf attacks,” stating he’d reached a “boiling point,” citing radical Imam Anwar al-Awlaki and announcing quote:
America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially Muslim Ummah. We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that.
officials say they’re quote “still looking for a motive” for the attack.
Horujko: Eliminated the threat
According to published news reports, which I actually had to go looking for this morning, Artan was a Somali refugee who left Sudan for Pakistan with his family in 2007 and came to the United States in 2014 as a legal permanent resident. Columbus has the second largest Somali population in the United States.
Horujko, by the way, was on the scene within a minute of the attack and according to Deputy O S U Police Chief Craig Stone, quote
He engaged the suspect and eliminated the threat.
Trump: Reaction gains coverage
We went looking for a response to the situation by the current occupant of the White House, but all we could find was a response from President-elect Donald Trump who praised the university’s reaction and wrote quote
THANK YOU to all FIRST RESPONDERS who reacted immediately and eliminated the threat on campus.
end quote in a Facebook post.
Trump, of course, has been a very loud critic of the administration’s refugee policies, pledging during the presidential campaign and in posts about his first one hundred days, to engage in what he calls extreme vetting of people coming from places where radical Islamic terror groups operate.
Call me a bad guy, but right now, I’m good with that.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
GPD: Time to renew your alarm permit
The Goffstown Police Department is reminding residents and businesses with alarm systems that alarm permits, which are required by town ordinance, will expire at midnight on December 31st. The department is urging alarm owners to stay ahead of the curve and renew their alarm permits before they expire. They’re issued at NO COST to the homeowner or business, and can be conveniently downloaded from the G P D’s website. If you choose the online renewal option, all you have to do is scan the completed form and send it back to their website electronically.
Permits can also be obtained by stopping by the G P D H Q, that’s police headquarters for those who didn’t quite follow the lingo, and ask for one at the Records or Dispatch windows.
MPD: In search of mischief and mischief makers
Police in Manchester are asking members of the public to come forward if they’ve suffered any vandalism to their property or vehicle. Detectives are investigating over twenty five criminal mischief reports in the Queen City’s North End, as well as a lone mischief case on the West Side and two in the South End. The incidents started around 8:30 p.m. on November 21st, and continued through the twenty sixth. Multiple victims reported damage to Christmas decorations, fencing, porch railings and vehicles. Most of the vehicles sustained broken windows and mirrors and one house window was also damaged. M P D is urging all residents who have suffered any such acts over the last several days to report them to the Detective Division at 7 9 2 5 5 0 0 or Manchester Crimeline at 6 2 4 4 0 4 0. Of course, if you have any information that may help locate the vandals, they’d like that, too.
Girard: Wanted public review, parental engaement
The Manchester Board of School Committee had something of a marathon meeting last night. Much discussion was had over a new approach to drug education that embeds anti-drug messages into current lessons. At Large Member Rich Girard opposed the program saying that before the program was approved, the resource materials gathered for teachers to use in their classrooms should be made available to the public for comment and a procedure to notify and involve parents when those materials are used by the teacher should be established.
Gatsas: Supports move to go back to committee for hearing
Mayor Ted Gatsas, expressing disbelief that school administrators presented the proposed program to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s Special Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs before bringing it to the school board or its Committee on Curriculum and Instruction, attempted to send the matter back to committee for a public forum after a motion by Board Vice-Chair Arthur Beaudry. The motion failed with Gatsas, Beaudry, Girard, Ward Four’s Leslie Want, and Ward Five’s Lisa Freeman in favor. Ward Two’s Debra Langton was absent and Ward Three’s Mary Georges abstained on the vote.
Avard: Wants parental involvement after approval
Arguing that the matter had already been to committee, Ward Ten’s John Avard moved the program be approved and that the administration hold a public forum to solicit community input, which would be brought back to the board. Despite Assistant Superintendent David Ryan saying he wanted the board to approve the program before it, or members of the public could see the materials that would be used and despite being unable to say how parents would be engaged once implemented, the board adopted the measure on a voice vote with only Girard recorded as opposed.
Van Houten: Received and filed
The board also received and filed the alleged charter violations Ward Twelve’s Constance Van Houten accused several board members of having committed. Mayor Gatsas cut debate off and demanded a vote on the motion to receive and file the complaint as things got testy. We will discuss as we’re just out of time in this news read. The vote was fourteen to one with, you guess it, Van Houten, of course, opposed.
