The bloody knife-and-car attack on the campus of Ohio State University carried out by Somali-born student illustrates a "refugee issue" the United States has yet to resolve, ex-New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said Monday.
In an interview with "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth, Kerik, author of "From Jailer to Jailed," said Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a legal permanent U.S. resident, "did exactly what … ISIS, what al Qaida, what what a lot of the training manuals for the radical Islamic movement, what they call for."
"'Use your vehicle, use knives, use weapons, use small arms, use guns.' He did exactly that and carried out this attack."
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"This is the world we live in," he added. "We're going to have to go back and see where this kid came from. He's been in the country for two years, he came out of Pakistan, he originally was born in Somalia, but he lived in Pakistan, I understand, for the prior seven years. How is he vetted? How did he get in? Did he go through the vetting process? The same vetting process that they're using for the Syrian refugees."
"This is a refugee issue that we've talked about for the last year and a threat that we've talked about the last year. So I think this is something that has to be looked at very seriously."
Kerik also praised the police officials who responded to the incident for not immediately drawing conclusions in the case – but he slammed the press for pressing for those quick answers.
"I do blame the media because the governors, the mayors, the police commissioners, the police chiefs, they're damned if they do, they're damned if they don't," he said.
"If they call it a certain thing and it turns out not to be, they get crucified in the press and media for the next week. … So I think in this circumstance, I think the police chief is right. Call it what he sees it to be at the point in time and let the facts come out during the investigation."
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