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Ohio State University attacker spent time in Dallas after moving to U.S. 

Abdul Razak Ali Artan, his mother and six siblings were aided by Catholic Charities after they arrived in Dallas in June 2014, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported.

The Somali-born man suspected of plowing his car into a group of pedestrians on the Ohio State University campus Monday and stabbing people with butcher knife had ties to Dallas.

This August 2016 image provided by TheLantern.com shows Abdul Razak Ali Artan in Columbus,...
This August 2016 image provided by TheLantern.com shows Abdul Razak Ali Artan in Columbus, Ohio.((Kevin Stankiewicz / TheLantern.com via AP))

Abdul Razak Ali Artan, his mother and six siblings got help from Catholic Charities after they arrived in Dallas on June 5, 2014, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported. 

"We gave them aid and comfort and some shelter as part of the government resettlement program," Catholic Charities C.E.O. Dave Woodyard told the station.

The Somali immigrants arrived at DFW Airport by way of JFK International Airport, and stayed in temporary housing in Dallas for 23 days, NBC5 reported.

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On June 28, 2014, the family moved to Columbus, Ohio, Woodyard said. After that, Catholic Charities closed its file on them.

Now the organization will share that file with the Columbus Police Department as officials investigate what unfolded Monday in the city.

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Eleven people were hurt, one critically, before a man police identified as Artan was shot to death by a nearby campus police officer.

Most were injured by the car, and at least two were stabbed. One had a fractured skull, officials said.

Ohio State University police Chief Craig Stone said the man deliberately drove his small gray Honda over a curb outside an engineering classroom building and then began knifing people.

Artan, a legal permanent U.S. resident, was a student at the university.

In August, the student newspaper, The Lantern, interviewed a student named Abdul Razak Artan, who identified himself as a Muslim and a third-year logistics management student who transferred from Columbus State in the fall.

He said he was looking for a place to pray openly and worried about how he would be received.

"I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media. I'm a Muslim, it's not what media portrays me to be," he told the newspaper. "If people look at me, a Muslim praying, I don't know what they're going to think, what's going to happen. But I don't blame them. It's the media that put that picture in their heads."

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Officials are investigating whether the incident was a terrorist act.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.