When a machete-wielding man launched an attack at an OH restaurant, injuring four, “complete chaos broke out”, one witness told ABC News today.
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All four people were taken to hospital and are expected to make a full recovery.
The man fled the scene in a vehicle and led police on a short chase. Law enforcement officials tell NBC News it is too soon to tell why he picked this restaurant, and say it’s also too soon to speculate on his possible affiliation with any specific groups. Officer John Johnson, a 25-year veteran, fired the shots, police said. In any case, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now investigating the incident as a “lone wolf terrorist attack”.
It remains unclear if the attacker targeted the restaurant because of the owner’s ethnicity.
Karen Bass, who told CBS affiliate WBNS-10TV that she had only been in the restaurant for about half an hour when the attack occurred, described a scene of chaos.
They credited the restaurant’s employees and patrons with acting quickly and observantly to fend off the man and help authorities catch him.
Police have not released the man’s name.
The suspect entered the Mediterranean restaurant earlier in the evening, spoke to an employee and then returned around 30 to 45 minutes later and started the attack, Weiner said.
Officers said that as they approached the suspect, he came out of the vehicle with a machete in one hand and a knife in the other.
Rich Weiner said of the attacker: ‘There was no rhyme or reason as to who he was going after’.
Not far from Nazareth Restaurant, one of the only two relatives Barry had in Columbus says he was sleeping, unware of the nearby attack.
Columbus PD have stated they believe the attack was random.
Officers tried unsuccessfully to subdue Barry with a stun gun before resorting to lethal force and killing him.
Dining chairs were overturned and dark-stained pieces of paper towels and cloth littered the floor Friday at the restaurant, tucked between a cellphone store and a beer shop in a small strip mall.
She fell five times, she said.
A woman said the man “just started running through the restaurant”. “My legs felt like jelly”. “Then, I came here and I’m trying to figure out what’s going on”.
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Police said a 54-year-old man hurt at the restaurant remained hospitalized in critical but stable condition Friday.
