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Possible ‘Lone Wolf’ Terrorist In U.S.? FBI Investigates Machete Attack In Ohio

By Liz Kelley
Published on: 06:48 PST, Feb 13, 2016

The FBI is currently investigating a possible terrorist attack in Ohio.

While there is no sound evidence that the act was organized by Islamic State or any other terrorist organization, officials close to the investigation are considering the attack as a potential terrorist act.

The perpetrator has been identified by Columbus police as Mohammed Barry.

Barry, 30, entered the Nazareth Restaurant and Deli Thursday night and wounded four customers before fleeing the scene. He was armed with a machete and a knife. Barry was killed in a confrontation with the Police a few miles away, says Fox News.

A woman who had been in the restaurant when Barry began attacking customers called 911 from the bathroom of the Tim Horton’s next door where she hid with her two children.

“Everyone just ran out of the restaurant as fast as we could.”

“[Police] realized from a computer alert that the suspect’s car had been flagged by authorities. The information in that alert led them to call in federal anti-terrorism officials. They also called the bomb squad,” The Columbus Dispatch reported.

Police Chief Kim Jacobs referred all questions associated with the attack to the FBI. She explained that the police are still trying to determine Barry’s place of birth.

“He had an address here in Columbus. I don’t think we know where he was born at this point in time.”

Jacobs also said that the FBI are, unsurprisingly, holding their own investigations.

“The FBI will be doing their own separate investigation. I don’t know what they’re specifically going to be investigating, but they will be investigating the suspect and what his motivations might have been.”

Currently, the FBI are trying to determine if Barry’s actions were influenced by terrorist propaganda or if he had other motives. Barry was in the FBI’s database under a list of names that could possibly be associated with terrorist acts. The bomb squad was called in as a precaution.

The Inquisitr reported that the most recent “Lone Wolf” scares were the attacks in Paris in December 2015.

“Some are saying these are terrorist attacks because both assailants yelled, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ (God is greatest), which became a war line used in the September 11, 2001 attacks and in numerous other jihad-related incidents. […] ISIS, a brutal terrorist group that has attempted to take strategic cities in Iraq and has become known for the beheading of westerners on camera, has urged followers to attack the U.S. and its coalition, and take Jihad into their streets by committing random attacks.”

The Nazareth Restaurant and Deli is owned by Hany Baransi, an Arab Christian who supports Israel.

“[I am] the minor, minor, minor of the minority. So nobody likes me.”

WND reported that Mohammed Barry was a Muslim immigrant from Africa, but police have yet to confirm his country of origin. Barry’s past roommate was startled to hear this account of Barry and struggled to make sense of it.

There is nothing particularly alarming or racially insulting about the Nazareth or the people who frequent it, Fox News said.

“Nazareth has been open for 20 years and is a popular spot for locals in the neighborhood. […] The Nazarath is known for its multiculturalism. The entrance is adorned with a small Israeli flag and the Arabic phrase, ‘Ahlan Wa Shalan’ which translates to ‘You are my family, take it easy.'”

[Image by Kantele Franko/AP Images]

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