Posted on 10/02/2005 9:13:39 PM PDT by WestTexasWend
NORMAN - Local and federal law officers worked Sunday to remove what was described as a cache of explosive material from the apartment of a man who died in a bombing the night before.
Joel Henry Hinrichs III, 21, a junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., died in the explosion, FBI officials said.
Investigators believe Hinrichs detonated a bomb about 8 p.m. Saturday, just 100 yards away from a packed football stadium.
Officials confirmed Sunday a cache of explosive material later was found inside Hinrichs’ residence at the university- owned Parkview Apartments, southeast of Lindsey Street and Stinson Avenue.
The FBI, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents and Norman police’s bomb squad were removing the material Sunday evening.
Police were overheard telling residents it would take “several trips and could take up to 24 hours” to remove it all.
Four buildings at Parkview Apartments, including the building where Hinrichs lived, were cordoned off with police tape.
Mike McMahon, who lives across the street from Hinrichs’ building, said he was on his porch at 3 a.m. Sunday “when they (police) started moving in.”
“That’s when the (yellow crime scene) tape went up,” McMahon said.
Whitney Pearson said she woke at 9 a.m. to find police blocking access to George Street where she lives. Across the street, she could see crime scene tape snaking around buildings at Parkview Apartments.
“I talked to police, and they told me I would be safe as long as I stayed on my side of the tape,” Pearson said.
OU and Norman police officers were posted at intersections to keep people away from the taped-off area. FBI and ATFE agents could be seen moving in and out of the buildings most of the day.
A canister trailer used for detonating or transporting potentially explosive material was being used to haul items away.
They started removing items after 7 p.m.
On Sunday, Boren said reports about authorities finding an unexploded bomb Saturday night were false.
Investigators did set off a second explosion, but it involved a suspicious object located near the blast site that did not contain a bomb, Boren said.
Law enforcement acted quickly and efficiently responding to the emergency, Boren said.
“Student safety is our number one concern,” Boren said.
FBI investigators packaged and removed the bench where the bomber was seated when the explosives went off.
A scorched patch marred the sidewalk where the bench had been removed.
Crime scene tape blocking access to the South Oval was removed by Sunday afternoon. Tape was repositioned around a bus and limousine parked on the oval in front of George Lynn Cross Hall, OU’s botany-microbiology building, prior to Saturday night’s game. Blood spattered the lower length of the bus.
No other damage to the area, including the microbiology building, was apparent.
Officials said Hinrichs’ motive for blowing himself up Saturday near the Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium during the second quarter of OU’s game against Kansas State remains under investigation.
OU President David Boren said Hinrichs was a student “who had very, serious personal problems that led to this tragic death.”
Because of what happened, Boren said, the FBI had taken over the investigation.
Boren said the student had explosives strapped to his body.
Investigators would not say whether they believe Hinrichs intended to go inside the stadium before the detonation happened.
"We are dealing with an individual death caused by an explosive device,” Boren said. “There is no continuing threat to the students at OU.”
Boren said OU classes would be held as usual Oct. 3.
Notified of his son’s death Sunday, Hinrichs’ father said he was still processing what happened and did not trust himself to say much.
“I don’t want him defined by whatever limitations led him to this,” said Joel H. Hinrichs Jr. of Colorado Springs. “He was quite introverted. He was a very quiet, introverted, intelligent young man. I can’t approximate what led him to make such a final decision.”
Hinrichs Jr., who broke down in tears during a brief phone interview with The Oklahoman, said he plans to have his son’s remains cremated and the ashes sent back to Colorado.
His pic's at the link and also here >>>
http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/5047816/detail.html
Why would the FBI take over...is there no Oklahoma State Troopers that do explosives?
Have you seen this?
Unless this is is a hands-on kind of university President, how the heck does he KNOW that Hinrichs had "very, serious personal problems that led to this tragic death". Me thinks David Boren is trying desperately to make this out to be some sort of minor act by a student who just had, well, personal issues. Okee-dokee, you betcha. I, for one, do not believe for one minute that someone strapped bombs to his chest outside of a stadium full of people, had bomb making materials and Muslim extremist propoganda in his partment and blew himself up (albeit, prematurely) just because of "personal problems". But then again, what do I know?
The police aren't reporting how many bystanders avoided serious injury because they were shielded from the deadly blast by the bomber's ample forehead.
~ Blue Jays ~
Terrorism was "suspected" thus the Feds stepped in.
"Muslim extremist propoganda in his apartment"
I have not seen this before. What is your source?
What is your evidence for this, aside from an unsubstantiated assertion on a very questionable website? If you have something concrete, I'd love to see it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1495382/posts?page=173#173
This sounds like the guy was heading to go into the stadium but for whatever reason, the bomb strapped to his body detonated.
Why else would someone do this? Maybe he had second thoughts about it and just decided to off himself instead before he got into the stadium.
I think a major disaster was averted here for whatever reason.
Did I miss the part about him having "Muslim extremist propaganda"?
I was just poking at this miserable kid in my post above. It certainly would be VERY interesting if there was some kind of confirmed evidence that he was a homegrown Johnny Jihad of some sort. Muslims are so fanatical that I don't put anything past them these days.
~ Blue Jays ~
I'm assuming this is a "before" picture?
Really? What makes you say that?
Someone sent it to me in email. Seems they detonated some material at 9:30 which I heard tonight -- some of that non bomb stuff that the Administration is pushing.
Why would the FBI be the lead investigator in a suicide bombing that involved a depressed student? BTW, the head of his fraternity that was on Channel 9 tonight disputed the official depressed student claim of the Administration.
I get the feeling there is a lot more to this then we are being told.
"This sounds like the guy was heading to go into the stadium but for whatever reason, the bomb strapped to his body detonated."
That's probably a safe assumption. Strapping a bomb to your body, just to blow yourself up at a parking lot outside a stadium, with few or no witnesses, doesn't add up. So, he planned on a bigger bang, and to take others out with him. Sounds familiar. But, beyond that, I'm still looking for anything other than speculation.
and since no one at the time knew what the heck was going on...
was there more than one bomb ?
was there more than one bomber ?
etc....
why did the police refuse to let the crowd leave ?
It is from some kook website. Same one claimed the U.S. secretly removed a terrorist nuke from Boston last year and detonated it out in the Atlantic.
Norman Police have the bomb squad not to mention our State Troopers. You asked the $64,000 question. The OU Administration has been pushing "there is nothing here" since right after it happened.
We were in the stadium for over two more hours after it happened with a blackout until right before the game ended. But then we keep getting told there was no danger. How did they know?
"why did the police refuse to let the crowd leave ?"
Well, if we let our imaginations run wild with all sorts of frightening terrorist scenarios like many of us did in the months after September 11, we might assume that there was something going on other than an attempt to keep the crowd out of the area where a bomb had just detonated.
I've also read that traces of tularemia have been found on the Mall in DC, after that Cindy Sheehan march. There's a link on Drudge. Seems one of the symptoms of tularemia is "progressive weakness," which is apropos in this particular instance, lol.
See the posts on the main thread. Boren's assertions are being questioned by the local media, OU students, and other interested stakeholders in Norman.
not even remotely funny, jerk
I agree. An earlier posted statement from the frat president (could have been yours) said the victim was not depressed. There were muslims living in the same dorm, and the victim was not friends with them. No hint that the victim could read Arabic or associated with them. Plenty of opportunity for the resident muslims to plant literature if they wanted. In other words, plenty of room to suspect the victim was simply an innocent victim of a terrorist attack, and the University doesn't want to jeapordize their foreign-student cash cow.
I would believe his frat president over the university president, the media, or the investigators.
Exactly. My university president didn't know I existed. Nor did I know who he was.
But all of a sudden this guy knows all about the bomber.
Police on the scene told people that there were multiple devices. Then this is hushed up and there was only one device.
Yet at the same time its going to take 24 hours to get all the explosives out of his appartment.
Why would a guy with a room full of explosives make only one device.
You watch, tomorrow this story will be that all they found in the appartment was a cigarette lighter and a can of draino.
Okay...wanted to make sure. This is the first I'd seen since the initial long thread.
I found another after I pinged you and the original thread has posted this report and picture as well.
Do any of your children know of this guy? How are they doing today, btw.
Why would the FBI be the lead investigator in a suicide bombing that involved a depressed student?
As we discussed last night and this morning...no one REALLY thought it was a "simple suicide" when they were called.
I get the feeling there is a lot more to this then we are being told.
I concur. We need to keep a close eye on this. Are you still planning to make that phone call tomorrow? Good luck if you do. Hope you can learn something.
"Plenty of opportunity for the resident muslims to plant literature if they wanted."
I'm not following you with this. A student straps a bomb to himself and heads out in the direction of a stadium filled with 80,000 or so people, and dies when the bomb detonates just outside the stadium. But, any Muslim "literature" could have been planted by Muslims on the hall of his dorm?
They must be using technology that triggers any electrical charge within a specific perimeter.
Would be nice if it were true.
"...not even remotely funny, jerk..."
It's a pleasure to meet you, too. There is no need to call me bad names. You're correct about one thing, terrorism isn't a funny topic. I'll bet good money that this kid didn't just kill himself as a traditional suicide.
~ Blue Jays ~
"They must be using technology that triggers any electrical charge within a specific perimeter."
Yes, that would be nice.
Making jokes about someone's physical appearance who's just died (however, or for whatever reason) is tacky at best. There's no need for that.
"Doesn't make a difference now, as there wasn't any additional "bombers"...but... they didn't know diddely squat last night"
They knew an explosive device of some kind had detonated outside the stadium, so I can see why a logical response was to keep the crowd from going outside the stadium. Beyond that, they were dealing with an unknown.
Do you think an evacuation of that stadium would have been safe and orderly, had there been an announcement that one bomb had gone off outside on one end of the stadium, and they did not know if other explosive devices were present?
In hindsight, they made the right decision. Had it been me locked down in there, I might feel differently, as you do. But, their response worked.
You said it. For some reason or another, the University President is in full CYA mode and trying to portray this as a minor incident.
There is more to this than is being told. Hopefully, the federales will release more information over the coming days and months.
If one is a person willing to deal death to innocents, they best be prepared to be mocked and reviled by the survivors. This kid had bad intentions on his mind other than killing himself.
I have no problem calling the September 11th hijackers swarthy-looking, perfumed cowards, either.
~ Blue Jays ~
More likely "Someone heard that someone knew someone who said the police said so and so...".
There's always confusion and an abundance of rumors at scenes like this. It's hard (but fun) to jump to conspiracy conclusions before more real facts are gathered.
"This kid had bad intentions on his mind other than killing himself."
That does appear to be a safe assumption. I can't recall a single, intentional instance of an individual strapping a bomb to his (or her) chest, in order to safely end his or her own life, and no other. Doesn't add up.
That's speculation. What is known is a bomb exploded and a student is dead. A bus driver saw him sitting on a bench before something went BOOM. A female witness saw two middle-eastern running away toward the stadium immediately after the explosion.
If he was sitting on the bench as reported, someone could have left the bomb on the bench either before he sat down or after, then departed. The sweeps with bomb-sniffing dogs prior to the explosion could have foiled any plans (by whomever) to take the bomb(s) into more densly packed area. There apparently was concern earlier that additional security and sweeps were necessary. Whoever was walking around with a backpack of explosives would have sought other methods for placing it, or getting rid of it.
My speculation makes just as much sense (to me at least) as any that has been reported. Reports from the investigators, media, and university president are in conflict with someone who knew the victim better than any of the former. So everyone will have to make their own choice about who to believe.
"A female witness saw two middle-eastern running away toward the stadium immediately after the explosion."
Another interesting detail that I haven't seen before. Where did you learn this?
Yes it is! The funniest thing about it is that someone took offense to it!
Thanks for the laughs!
Way back on the 3000+ thread, probably prior to #1500, but I don't care to go back looking for it.
You should read the main thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1495058/posts?q=1&&page=3401
The information is from a post by PhiKapMom last night. She is not the one who actualy saw this though. Search her posts from last night.
"If he was sitting on the bench as reported, someone could have left the bomb on the bench either before he sat down or after, then departed."
So, any explosive materials found in Hinrich's dorm room were planted by these Muslims on the same hall, along with any Muslim literature, making him an innocent victim? Framed, in other words?
That sounds a bit implausible to me. But, I suppose it's not completely impossible. If Hinrichs just happened upon a backpack or something, by accident, somebody would really have to hustle back to the dorm to pull this off, though. I'd think witnesses there would be a problem.
The University, the cops and the fathers reactions are the same. I think the feds took over, because the bomb, matl's and action are fed crimes and they can do a more extensive investigation. Feddollars of course instead of running up the local bill.
You dont think as President of the university he has people who report to him who did know the kid and his record at the school. When I was in college it's likely the President of the University could have gotten a lot of info on me with one or two phone calls. A check of the university computer records would have provided additional interesting input on my behavior and known associates. Boren probably also has input from the local police and FBI. After all the guy has a high security clearance and was having breakfast with Tenant, the head of the CIA, the morning of 9/11.
Bush_Democrat - actually, it is very funny. Blue Jays is right.....somebody who had a cache of explosives in his apartment had much more than suicide in his mind.
See the posts by PhiKapMom on the other thread.
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