A law-enforcement computer alert tied to the vehicle driven by the suspect in a vicious machete attack at a Northeast Side restaurant led Columbus police to contact federal authorities and an anti-terrorism task force to launch an investigation. Police also immediately called the bomb squad to inspect his car shortly after they shot and killed him. Officers said Mohamed Barry charged them armed with a knife and a machete.

UPDATE:

A law-enforcement computer alert tied to the vehicle driven by the suspect in a vicious machete attack at a Northeast Side restaurant led Columbus police to contact federal authorities and an anti-terrorism task force to launch an investigation.

Police also immediately called the bomb squad to inspect his car shortly after they shot and killed him. Officers said Mohamed Barry charged them armed with a knife and a machete.

The move to call in federal authorities was tied to �something that�s in the (computer) system that came back about the vehicle and this person,� said Columbus police Sgt. Rich Weiner. He referred questions about the nature of the computer alert to the FBI.

FBI officials in the Cincinnati office did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. An FBI spokeswoman in Washington, D.C. said that federal authorities are assisting Columbus police and that she had no further information.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Calls to 911 in a restaurant where a man wielding a machete injured four people described a chaotic scene. Kids were dragged to safety. Injuries to some victims were severe.

There were also stories of heroism from the incident Thursday night at the Nazareth Restaurant and Delion the Northeast Side. An employee fought the attacker with a baseball bat. Customers risked their own well-being and rushed the attacker inside the restaurant at 5239 N. Hamilton Rd.,which is just north of the intersection of Hamilton and Morse roads.

A witness who ran to a nearby Tim Hortons restaurant told a 911 dispatcher: "He came in and immediately attacked a man on the right. My kids were in there. We dragged kids and we left." The caller said that after the attack, the attacker was in the parking lot, talking to a man and then he left.

Another witness who hid in the bathroom at the Tim Horton's told 911: "I ran out with my kids. I'm at Tim Hortons in the bathroom with my two young kids."

The Franklin County Coroner identified the attacker, who was later shot and killed by police, as Mohamed Barry.

As Barry fled, his vehicle almost hit a police cruiser and then ran head-on into a Mercedes on Morse Road near Steltzer. The driver of that car told 911 he briefly chased Barry's vehicle to get the license plate number. "He has a knife in his car, he has a weapon," he said. "My wife said it was like a sword."

The owner of the Nazareth Restaurant and Deli said he believes his business was targeted because of his Israeli descent.

�Obviously we were targeted because there�s a whole bunch of businesses around here,� said Hany Baransi, who is from Israel. �I�m the only foreigner.�

Baransi said his family is Israeli, Christian and Arab."I am the minor, minor, minor of the minority. So nobody likes me."

Video: Owner describes attack

FBI Special Agent Rick Smith, based in Cincinnati, said the agency is assisting Columbus Police on the investigation. He did not elaborate.

�People can�t jump to conclusions just based on the information that�s out there now. It�s really too early in the investigation. There�s so much information that hasn�t been vetted.�

He wouldn�t say if other federal agencies were involved in the investigation.

Baransi said Barry walked into the restaurant and asked for Baransi, who had gone home early with a migraine. Barry asked an employee where Baransi was from before he left. The man returned about 30 minutes later with a machete and began attacking customers.

Police caught up with the man about five miles from the restaurant. He was shot and killed.

�The one night I leave early this happens,� said Baransi, who said he hadn�t taken a night off since Jan. 2. �I feel so guilty for leaving my people.�

>> Restaurant attack victims likely saved by quick action

The man went from booth to booth attacking people, Baransi said, and eventually made it to Bill Foley, who was preparing for his weekly musical performance at the restaurant.

On one 911 call, a patron described the scene: "There's someone who's really hurt, he's bleeding bad. There's at least four, five, six people injured."

Foley was cut across the abdomen and had to have surgery last night, Baransi said. Four people were taken to the hospital, but Columbus police have not identified them or the man who attacked them.

Baransi described Foley as �gentle� and �like a brother to me.� He has been playing shows at Baransi�s restaurant for about seven years.

This afternoon, after visiting Foley at the hospital, Baransi said: "He's out of it. He has a lot of different things to deal with. Needs a lot of prayers."

�I wish that guy attacked me,� he said. �Bill is gentle. He would not hurt a fly.�

Baransi said a restaurant employee fought back with a baseball bat that he retrieved from behind the counter.

The restaurant is closed while police investigate the attacks, and Baransi said he isn�t sure when it will reopen.

�Obviously I cannot do it on my own,� he said. �I need to see if (the staff) still like me, if they still want to work for me.�