Students Tanner Hale, center, and Kayla Croyle attend a vigil following an attack at The Ohio State University campus the previous day, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio. Investigators are looking into whether a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University that injured several people was an act of terror by a student who had once criticized the media for its portrayal of Muslims. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio State administrator is being criticized for urging compassion for the Somali-born student who injured 11 people in a car-and-knife attack on campus before he was shot to death by police.
An assistant director of residence life at the university this week urged people on Facebook to stop sharing photos of the attacker's dead body and to not celebrate his death following Monday's attack.
Stephanie Clemons Thompson also said she prays that people "have compassion for his life, as troubled as it clearly was."
Those comments sparked anger on social media with an online petition calling for her to be fired.
A university spokesman says Thompson's comment is not an official university statement and represents her personal viewpoint.
Thompson didn't immediately return messages left at her office Friday.
FILE - In this Monday, Nov. 28, 2016 file photo, police respond to an attack on campus at Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio. The Somali-born student who injured nearly a dozen people in a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University showed few signs of bitterness and even danced onto the stage when he graduated from community college. Abdul Razak Ali Artan was shot to death by a university police officer when he refused to drop his knife during Monday's attack. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
The Associated Press