An Ohio State student was pistol-whipped during an attempted robbery at a Facebook Marketplace meetup outside the Ohio Union on Saturday afternoon, and university police are searching for a second suspect, according to Public Safety Notice 2026-07 issued by the Ohio State University Police Division on November 14. Police have located the suspects’ vehicle and detained the driver, the notice said.
The student met two individuals at about 5 p.m. on Saturday outside the Ohio Union loop, south of the building, for a Facebook Marketplace exchange, the police division said in the notice. The student got into the suspects’ vehicle, where the pair attempted to rob him, according to the notice.
During the attempt, the second suspect — the passenger — pistol-whipped the student, who rolled out of the backseat of the fleeing car, police said in the notice. The student suffered a laceration to his head and was taken to a hospital, according to the notice, which did not release further information about his condition.
Both suspects drove away from campus, police said. Officers have since located the vehicle and detained the driver, and the Department of Public Safety published an image of the second suspect standing near the vehicle as the search for him continues, according to the notice.
The setting is what makes Saturday’s case stand out on a campus that sees Marketplace exchanges every day. The Ohio Union sits at the center of student life on the Columbus campus, and its loop is a natural, public meeting point — the kind of place safety guidance usually points students toward. According to the police notice, the danger in this case began not at the curb but inside the car: the attempted robbery unfolded after the student entered the suspects’ vehicle.
It was a busy Saturday around the Union. Hours earlier, Ohio State had finished its home football game against Northwestern at Ohio Stadium — a game NewsForce247 covered as Ohio State’s hockey team was completing its own upset weekend — and the campus area south of the stadium was still full of students and visitors when the 5 p.m. meetup turned violent, according to the timeline in the police notice.
The timeline, as the notice lays it out, moved fast. At about 5 p.m., the student arrived at the Ohio Union loop and got into the suspects’ vehicle for the exchange. The robbery attempt and the pistol-whipping followed inside the car, and the student escaped by rolling out of the backseat as the car fled. He was taken to a hospital with a head laceration. Afterward, officers located the vehicle and detained its driver, while the Department of Public Safety circulated the second suspect’s image the same evening, the notice said.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know, from Public Safety Notice 2026-07: the meetup happened at about 5 p.m. Saturday outside the Ohio Union loop; two suspects were involved; the student was pistol-whipped by the passenger and escaped by rolling out of the moving car’s backseat; he was hospitalized with a head laceration; the vehicle has been located and the driver detained; and the second suspect is still being sought, with his image published by the Department of Public Safety. What we’re still waiting on: the second suspect’s identity and arrest, any charges against the detained driver, and an update on the student’s condition — none of which the notice provided.
The case also lands in a month when Columbus students have been giving back in force — earlier Saturday, fraternity volunteers handed out more than 2,000 Thanksgiving turkeys in Linden — a reminder that the same meetup-and-gather habits that build community on campus can be exploited when a routine exchange is a setup.
What happens next is the investigation: the Ohio State University Police Division is actively investigating and asks anyone with information to call 614-292-2121, according to the notice. Details in this report are from Public Safety Notice 2026-07 issued by the Ohio State University Police Division, as reported by J News Network.
Photo: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA
[…] Columbus budgeting has been a running story in the neighborhoods this budget serves — the same Linden community where the mayor pitched the plan hosted a very different kind of investment on Saturday, when the Columbus Kappas handed out more than 2,000 turkeys at Linden STEM Academy. And the safety staffing the budget targets is the same system residents rely on in stories like the Ohio Union robbery attempt NewsForce247 covered overnight. […]