Abdul Razak Ali Ratan, the suspect who died carrying out a knife and car attack on Ohio State University students Monday, might have intended to perpetrate an “act of terrorism,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday.
“There is plenty of available evidence to indicate that this individual may have been motivated by extremism,” Earnest said.
Investigators have uncovered a Facebook post believed to have been authored by the suspect just before the attack in which he said he had reached a “boiling point” with the way Muslims have been treated around the world by the West.
Earnest offered words of caution against blaming Islam for the violence that left 11 people in the hospital Monday.
“Our response to this situation matters,” he said. “If we respond to this situation by casting aspersions on millions of people that adhere to a particular religion … we’re more likely to contribute to acts of violence than we are to prevent them.”
Earnest said he hoped the FBI and police investigation would shed more light on the suspect’s motives.
“It’s important that those investigators uncover as much as they possibly can,” he said.
