WASHINGTON: “An 18-year-old Somali student who lived in Pakistan, became US legal permanent resident only two years ago. Can this get any worse?” wrote a Northern Virginia resident Najma Siddiqi as the US media identified the Ohio State attacker, Abdul Razak Ali Artan.

On Monday, Artan, a third-year student at Ohio State University, rammed his car into a crowd at the Columbus campus and also attacked students with a butcher knife, injuring 11 people. Police shot and killed him before he could do more harm.

Ohio State is a large university with 60,000 and the violence unfolded just before 10am when the campus was full of students. As 24-hour news channels broke the news, focusing particularly on Artan’s religious background and his stay in Pakistan, panicked gripped the Pakistani-American community.

“Once again terror has struck the innocent citizens … I am heartbroken as a person of Islamic faith as once again my sacred faith is hijacked and abused,” Muhammad Babar Cheema, a physician in Louisville, Kentucky, posted on Facebook.

Luckily, his American friends are not blaming for the acts of a lone wolf. “Peace be with you Dr. Babar. We know where you stand. You are a person of integrity,” wrote one of them, Kelly Kirby.

Hassan Jafri of Springfield, Virginia, also got similar support from his colleagues at a Washington, DC superstore. “They assured me that they are not blaming all Muslims,” he said.

But a group of Muslim women, walking in black robes in a Northern Virginia mall, were not so lucky. “Terrorists, terrorists,” shouted a middle aged man as they walked by.

And Hassan Omar, president of the Somali Community Association of Ohio, told NBC News that reports that the attacker was Somali were upsetting.

“Every Somali person has been calling me, and everybody is crying,” he said. “This is going to affect the life of everybody. We are American, and we don’t want somebody to create this problem.”

Like him, many Americans felt the need to felt the need to underlined their commitment to America and peace.

“People are scared,” said another Northern Virginia resident who did not want to be identified. “They fear that the Trump administration may not be as sympathetic as the (outgoing) Obama administration.” Asked what he feared such attacks could lead to, he said: “Deportations, increased surveillance, people forced to live in a particular area. Anything can happen.”

Referring to President-elect Donald Trump’s election promises, he said, “Remember he pledged to deport all suspects, creating a special data bank for Muslims and forcing them to spy on each other.

Published in Dawn November 30th, 2016