'It just hit everybody': Man who drove into pedestrians at Ohio State University shot dead

A man plowed his car into a group of pedestrians at Ohio State University and then got out and began stabbing people with a butcher knife before he was shot to death by an officer Monday morning, campus police said.

Eleven people were hurt, one critically, and Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs said police were looking into whether it was a terrorist attack. The FBI and other agencies joined the investigation.

"I think we have to consider that it is," said Jacobs.

Among those injured in the attack were OSU faculty members and graduate and undergraduate students.

Monica Moll, the school's public safety director, identified the suspect as Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a student at OSU. Artan was born in Somalia and was a permanent U.S. resident, The Associated Press reported. 

Authorities said they were able to get photos of the suspect's vehicle driving onto campus and confirmed only one person was in the car.

The details emerged after a morning of confusion and conflicting reports that began with the university issuing a series of tweets warning students that there was an "active shooter" on campus near the engineering building and that they should "run, hide, fight."

Numerous police vehicles and ambulances converged on the 60,000-student campus, and authorities blocked off roads.

Ohio State Police Chief Craig Stone said that Artan drove over a curb outside a classroom building and that officer Alan Horujko, who was nearby because of a gas leak, shot the driver in less than a minute. Horujko, 28, started on the Ohio State police force in January 2015.

'It just hit everybody who was in front'

Angshuman Kapil, a graduate student, was outside the building when the car barreled onto the sidewalk.

"It just hit everybody who was in front," he said. "After that everybody was shouting, 'Run! Run! Run!"'

Student Martin Schneider said he heard the car's engine revving.

"I thought it was an accident initially until I saw the guy come out with a knife," Schneider said, adding that the man didn't say anything when he got out.

The shelter-in-place warning was lifted about an hour and half later and the campus was declared secure after police concluded there was no second attacker, as rumoured.

Most of the injured were hurt by the car, and at least two were stabbed, police said. One had a fractured skull.

The attack came as students were returning to classes following the Thanksgiving holiday break and Ohio State's football victory over rival Michigan that brought more than 100,000 fans to campus on Saturday.

Rachel LeMaster, who works in the engineering college, said a fire alarm sounded before the attack.

"There were several moments of chaos," she said. "We barricaded ourselves like we're supposed to since it was right outside our door and just hunkered down."

LeMaster said she and others were eventually led outside the building and she saw a body on the ground.

Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day.

The initial tweet from the university's emergency management department went out around 10 a.m. and said: "Buckeye Alert: Active Shooter on campus. Run Hide Fight. Watts Hall. 19th and College."

Ohio State President Michael Drake said the active-shooter warning was issued after shots were heard on campus. Those shots were apparently police gunfire.

"Run, hide, fight" is standard protocol for active shooter situations. It means: Run, evacuate if possible; hide, get silently out of view; or fight, as a last resort, take action to disrupt or incapacitate the shooter if your life is in imminent danger.