Posted on 10/07/2005 7:04:52 AM PDT by indcons
NORMAN -- An incident related by a ticket taker at Saturday's OU-Kansas State game raises questions about whether a student who died in a suicide explosion tried to gain entrance to Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
But University of Oklahoma officials continue to deny that Joel Henry Hinrichs III tried to enter the stadium before dying about 100 yards away.
OU student Adam Smith said Thursday that he was approached as he was leaving the stadium Saturday by a ticket taker from Gate 6 who wanted to know what had happened.
Smith said he told the gate worker that there had apparently been an explosion outside the stadium and someone had been blown up.
"He gave me a wide-eyed look, and said: 'Oh, that's really strange,' " Smith said. The ticket taker recounted that a young man who looked strange and was wearing a backpack that looked full tried to get into the stadium.
However, when he was asked to open his backpack, "the guy didn't say a word and sprinted away," Smith said he was told.
Vice President of Communications Catherine Bishop said OU officials have "been assured that there is no validity to the Gate 6 rumor." Bishop said the story has been checked out by the university's athletic department.
Meanwhile, the FBI continued to have no new comments on the case Thursday.
Hinrichs, a 21-year-old, third-year engineering student described by his father as a loner and a depressed and troubled son, died Saturday in what officials have called a suicide explosion that occurred during the second quarter of the OU-Kansas State football game. The explosion was sizeable enough to leave a large burned-out area surrounding a park bench in front of a campus building, prompting concern from the public about what would have happened if the blast had occurred inside the stadium amid a crowd of 84,000 fans.
Hinrichs' roommate was Fazil Cheema, a student from Pakistan. Law enforcement officials late Saturday came to the Parkview Apartments complex where the pair lived, located Cheema at a neighboring apartment, then interviewed him and about a half-dozen others, who are Muslims. However, spokesmen for the local Muslim community say Cheema himself is not a practicing Muslim.
An OU instructor in Arab languages whose native country is Egypt said Thursday that he was among the small group of Muslims handcuffed by Norman police and led to FBI agents, who questioned him for about two hours early Sunday morning.
Instructor Hossam Barakat said Norman police were "really aggressive," but FBI agents were polite and apologized for having to interview Barakat and the others gathered at one of the units of Parkview Apartments.
Hinrichs and Cheema lived in a nearby unit, and Cheema was at the neighboring apartment when police arrived. Cheema has moved from the Parkview Apartments to another apartment in Norman, acquaintances say, but Cheema cannot be reached.
Barakat and others are concerned that the OU explosion could be unfairly connected to the Muslim community. Barakat said he does not know Cheema very well. Members of the Islamic Society of Norman say that Cheema is not a Muslim and does not attend the mosque.
"Cheema was an atheist who was angry with God because he had lost much of his hearing," said Tariq Alzoubi, who noted many international students especially from the Mideast region are reluctant to talk about the case.
The Muslims who practice at the Islamic Society of Norman emphasize that they have never seen Hinrichs at the mosque.
In a letter being sent to students and parents, OU President David Boren said he has been "assured that law enforcement officials including federal officers have found no evidence of a conspiracy involving others which creates an ongoing threat to our community."
"We believe that we should not judge others or jump to conclusions about others on the basis of color, race, gender, economic status or freely exercised religious beliefs," Boren said in the letter made public Thursday.
Mick Hinton (405) 528-2465 mick.hinton@tulsaworld.com
That is complete BS. Got an email address for Boren?
From the local cops who won't go on the record. Local media is sitting on things like that as they are having trouble getting people on the record.
BTW, it had a directional device and metal size of small nail heads have been found in trees surrounding the bench.
BFLR
"There must be a section in the FBI interrogation book that says you must always treat members of the ROP with great deference, politeness and courtesy, and never question them aggressively or speak harshly to them."
There was an article several months after 911 that said all FBI agents were now required to attend a 'sensitivity' class on Islam and Muslims. I remember reading it and thinking they really needed to have classes on the Islamic threat across the globe. Geez.....(rolling eyes)
Didn't you hear? He's in Philly now meeting his 18 pals. They're buying ski-parka's before they catch the Yankee game tonight.
That's exactly what I thought too, Cicero. If you read that statement carefully, it has an 'out clause.' The out clause is 'which creates an ongoing threat to our community.' If backed into a corner by later revelations that reveal their lying coverup, Boren and OU officials can always say, 'In our judgment at that time, there was no ongoing threat to our community.'
Got there after it was pulled.
BTW, the sealed warrant was reported on Tampa radio this morning. That sealed warrant is now starting to get people's interest in that this is not a depressed kid who blew himself up.
All of the recent statements have been parsed. Even some news articles that give the OU spin will have real news in them when you read closely.
This was double sourced before The Oklahoman reported the story. They are not running with speculation but are having a hard time getting people to go on the record. The quotes are accurate and he is not the only one that has the same information. Local authorities do as well but FBI is in charge.
Yes, I posted something from OU that showed Cheema worked for the athletic department.
I'm equally disgusted that in 2002 Boren disciplined white students while giving the foreign student a job at the university subsidized Parkview Apartments because of a trumped up hate crime charge. The foreign student was later charged with an anthrax threat.
Boren is a hypocrite.
Moussaoui attended the Mosque here in Norman near the OU campus.
I don't understand. Couldn't the warrant just as well be sealed to keep its contents from becoming public, which would be more consistent with the way it's been treated so far? How does the fact that it's been sealed (by the court?) mean that we can assume there's going to be more to it?
=============================================
Did not Boren make sure that the poor abused Mr Heider was given a job at OU owned Bombview Apartments? Saw that on another thread.
You have that right about Boren. I saw those trumped up charges and thought they were at the time. Boren needs to resign like yesterday.
The LV thread is back up in Breaking now w/o the link. LOL
I heard it too through a source where I get most of my OU sooner sports info. :)
Yanked again. Posted under topic Nevada and keyword Terror.
If the incident is double sourced the story should say so (or did I miss it somewhere). I wouldn't have been so skeptical. I was a newspaper and wire service reporter for 15 years, so when I see stuff like this alarm bells go off.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.