Ohio – Police in Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed a machete-wielding man on Thursday after he entered a restaurant and wounded several patrons, one critically, officials said.
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Police were called to the Nazareth Restaurant on the northeast side at about 6 p.m. EST, after reports an armed man was attacking people in the building.
At least five people inside the Middle Eastern-food restaurant were hurt, including one person who was in critical condition, officials said.
The suspect had walked into the restaurant and argued with an employee before leaving, returning with the machete a short time later and attacking customers, police said.
The attack appeared to be random.
“There was no rhyme or reason as to who he was going after,” Columbus Police Department spokesman Sergeant Rich Weiner told WCMH-TV.
The FBI was also investigating, the Columbus Dispatch newspaper reported. Weiner said that restaurant employees and customers have said they did not recognize the attacker.
Police said employees and patrons tried to get the man to stop.
“Some of the patrons there started throwing chairs at him just trying to get him out of there,” Weiner said.
The man eventually fled the scene in a white car and led police on a short chase. Officers forced the man off the road a few miles away and when he got out of his car police said they tried unsuccessfully to use a stun gun on him.
Weiner said, “At that point he had a machete and another knife in his hand and he lunged across the hood at the officers.”
That’s when police said an officer shot and killed the man. They did not immediately release his name.
It remained unclear what sparked the attacks.
“Right now there’s nothing that leads us to believe that this is anything but a random attack,” said Weiner.
Owner was Israeli.
Lets guess his name. Barak achmed mohamed osama
The owner is an Israeli Arab by the name of Hany Baransi. He lived in Haifa previously.
This is why gun control is a good thing. This guy did not manage to hurt anyone with his knife and machete. It is good he did not have a gun.
In other news, a couple in Monsey died in a murder-suicide yesterday. The gun used was registered to the wife. The husband used it to kill his wife and then himself.
The UN is sharply condemning the excessive force..
Maybe the Swedish prime minister and Ban Ki Moon should sanction the US police for extrajudicial killing and reacting too “harshly”!
The suspected attacker is a Somali national named Mohammad Barry, CBS reports. There are also reports that Barry was on a terrorist watchlist.
To #4 -Lion of Zion-Your remarks were totally inaccurate; the psycho attacker attacked, slashed, and seriously injured several people with his machete. If people had guns, they could have shot him dead at the restaurant. He wasn’t stopped by the cops, until several miles away, where he lunged at them with his machete.
To $7-Your facts are wrong. The perpetrator was from Guinea in West Africa, and not from Somalia, which is in East Africa. I live in Columbus, Ohio, and I can tell you from personal experience that the Somali individuals that I’ve dealt with are hard working, kind, courteous and respectful people. They don’t carry a chip on their shoulder, as many African-Americans do. Incidentally, the FBI stated that this incident was a terrorist incident, as they had a file on the perpetrator. The owner of the restaurant had an Israeli flag on the shop, as he is from Israel (Israeli Arab Christian). The FBI suspects that the terrorist targeted that restaurant, as he suspected that the owner and patrols were Jews. At this point, it is not known if the restaurant will reopen.