Columbus PD Think Machete Attack at Restaurant Was Random; Restaurant Owner Disagrees

Police on Friday identified the machete-wielding man who was killed by police after injuring four people at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday.

Investigators are now trying to determine if the man, named Mohammad, attacked the restaurant, named Nazareth, as an act of terrorism, according to CBS.

Police say Mohamed Barry, 30, walked into the Nazareth Restaurant and Deli on North Hamilton Road and attacked four people using a machete. Barry was killed in a confrontation with the Police a few miles away, says Fox News. Four customers were injured in the attack, one of them critically.

Owner Hany Baransi told The Columbus Dispatch he believes his restaurant was targeted because he is Israeli. Gerald and Debbie Russel are both listed in stable condition, and Neil McMeekin has already been released from the hospital. After fleeing, the suspect had been fatally shot by the police.

She said some children and elderly people were in the restaurant.

Police talk inside the Columbus, Ohio, restaurant where they say a man attacked several people with a machete on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016.

Speaking to The Columbus Dispatch Friday, police Sgt. Rich Weiner was a bit more forthcoming, claiming something “in the (computer) system… came back about the vehicle and this person” that caused authorities in Columbus to alert the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Another man and woman were in stable condition.

The FBI is investigating the suspect’s motive, Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs said at a news conference this afternoon, adding that the motive is not yet clear. The fourth victim had been treated and released. The victims were taken to an area hospital and were expected to recover.

Weiner said: ‘At that point he had a machete and another knife in his hand and he lunged across the hood at the officers’.

It remains unclear if the attacker targeted the restaurant because of the owner’s ethnicity.

Weiner says it appeared to be a random attack. “I’m not aware that we have any known history with the suspect”.