Posted on 10/16/2005 11:02:43 AM PDT by MizSterious
The FBI read the message to the father Friday, after he came to Oklahoma to clear out his son's university-owned apartment.
Joel "Joe" Henry Hinrichs III, an engineering student, died when his bomb went off about 100 yards from the packed football stadium during the second quarter of OU's night game against Kansas State.
Hinrichs, 21, was from Colorado Springs, Colo. He had a reputation as a loner and had struggled at times with his grades. His parents had begun divorce proceedings.
Joel Hinrichs Jr. said he understood investigators found the message on the computer screen when they arrived at the apartment.
"It was a single line of text on his computer," said the father, who lives in Colorado Springs. "The cursor was still blinking at the end."
The father said he could not recall the exact wording but said his son used profanity in the message and was obviously very angry. "He wrote he was dissatisfied with the situation and was going to quit living," the father said.
His description of the message is consistent with the recollection of others who have been briefed about the investigation by the FBI.
No links to terrorist groups
FBI officials have said they may never know whether the student wanted to get inside the stadium. The student did not have a season ticket.
FBI officials also have said the investigation has not found any links between the student and terrorist organizations.
His father said he thinks his son was just committing suicide and never intended to hurt anyone else.
The father said the FBI on Friday showed him the fractured bench where his son was sitting when the bomb exploded and photos of his son's headless body and a tattered backpack.
The father said when cleaning out the apartment, he learned his son apparently had been having trouble sleeping and had bought Sominex, a sleep aid.
The younger Hinrichs had a long fascination with ammunition and bombs, his relatives and friends said. Inside his bedroom in Norman were several used metal artillery shells -- the largest about 2 feet long. He had belts of used brass shell casings, a box of spent bullets and military ammo containers.
He also had items more typical of many college students -- textbooks, empty liquor bottles, magazines and a martial arts movie videotape.
The father allowed two reporters from The Oklahoman into the bedroom briefly Thursday.
Bomb experts removed explosive-related materials from the apartment Oct. 2. Contributing: Randy Ellis
"The matches were found the next day after the crime scene tape had been removed."
Somebody acting on their own, looking for flammable residue after the fact?
Notice they don't say what the "lab" was set up to make. Actually it being in the bathroom, rather than the kitchen, makes it slightly less likely to be a bomb lab. Most of the easy to make stuff needs to be cooled as it's made, that would seem a bit easier in the kitchen, but of course it *could* be done in the bathroom as well.
"The complex is said to be heavily foreign students, with JH living in the mostly Muslim area."
Between the Pakistani roomie and the Muslim neighbors, who would logically have had to know due to the reportedly strong odor, you'd also logically have to circle back to Hinrichs being involved with radical Islamists, somehow, if he was "cooking" TATP in that apartment.
http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/17/43531fdd8cf1a
Father reveals Hinrichs' suicide note
Joel Henry Hinrichs Jr. said his son’s last message was “to the point” and “very vulgar.”
by Scooby Axson
October 17, 2005
The father of an OU student who died Oct. 1 when a bomb exploded outside of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium said his son left a very disturbing suicide note on his computer.
Joel Henry Hinrichs Jr. said the FBI showed him evidence that his son Joel acted alone in the explosion and never intended to hurt other people. Hinrichs said he doesn't remember the exact text.
“The line of text on his computer was short, but it was to the point, very vulgar, and it was a sort of farewell,” Hinrichs said.
Joel “Joe” Henry Hinrichs III, 21, was a mechanical engineering junior who kept to himself and had a long fascination with ammunition and bomb-making materials, his father said.
“My son was just a disturbed young man, and he felt it was necessary to end his life,” he said. “I was shown pictures of the bench he was sitting on at the time of the explosion, as well as a backpack and photos of his body.”
Hinrichs was sitting on a bench Oct. 1 outside of George Lynn Cross Hall when the bomb went off.
The blast could be heard during the second quarter of OU-Kansas State University football game where nearly 84,000 spectators were in attendance. The stadium is fewer than 100 yards from Cross hall.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office has yet to make a positive identification of the body. DNA tests were performed to determine a positive ID.
FBI officials are still unclear as to Hinrichs’ motives for the location he chose, but Hinrichs Jr. said he was upset with some of the media and how the story has turned into a conspiracy theory.
“Joe was sitting on a bench away from the crowded stadium and away from people; it’s as simple as that,” he said. “People seem to forget that. His intentions were to end his life; he was trying to destroy himself and nothing else. I don’t like the way it has been written, especially if people can’t get the facts right.”
Hinrichs said the Internet stories have bothered him the most.
“The print media have been very accurate with what they are coming out with, no doubt about it,” he said. “The networks’ coverage has been very suspect at best, probably because they get most of their information from the Internet.”
Hinrichs insisted that the stories saying his son was involved with terrorist organizations are simply not true.
The FBI said last week they found no link between Hinrichs and terrorism and that he did not try to enter the stadium or purchase a ticket for the game.
FBI spokesman Gary Johnson and OU President David L. Boren said that no Islamic or Jihadist materials were found during the search of the Parkview Apartments, where Hinrichs lived.
Officials did find bomb-making materials in the apartment and went to a Norman Police Department firing range to detonate the materials.
Hinrichs said he visited Norman on Thursday and Friday to clear out his son’s apartment and met with the FBI and university officials, including Boren.
“I spoke with Boren, and they did everything in their power to make sure my stay was comfortable and expressed their deep concern about my family’s well-being,” he said.
Hinrichs said he wanted to thank OU and will never forget how OU officials have tried to make the situation easier for him and his family.
“My family has been through a rough stretch the past couple of weeks, but we are all doing well,” Hinrichs said.
"Actually it being in the bathroom, rather than the kitchen, makes it slightly less likely to be a bomb lab. Most of the easy to make stuff needs to be cooled as it's made, that would seem a bit easier in the kitchen, but of course it *could* be done in the bathroom as well."
No window, less likely to be detected? Tough to say. But, I think it's safe to say that there would have been a followup report on this, if there were to be any solid evidence to negate suspicion of a terrorist link, wouldn't you? I read that the London subway bombers transported theirs in coolers, on ice.
No it's not. From Wikipedia:
Commas in the Second Amendment
There is some question as to whether the Second Amendment contains a comma after the word "militia", and a parallel debate as to whether the presence or lack of this comma influences the overall meaning of the Amendment.
Both the U.S. Senate Journal and the Annals of Congress show the final version of the Second Amendment as not containing this comma. On September 25, 1789, the completed Bill of Rights was written to parchment by a House scribe. In this version, now held by the National Archives, the comma was inserted. All other surviving original texts of the Bill of Rights, including the copies sent to the states for ratification, do not contain the comma.
Comparing versions of this and other Amendments as officially enrolled in the journals, as they were progressively modified and sent between chambers, shows that scribes of the era took liberty with the capitalization and punctuation of text they wrote.
The U.S. Government is inconsistent in the use of the comma in publications. The Statutes at Large (the official permanant record of all laws enacted) does not include the comma . The Government Printing Office (GPO) has produced versions both with and without this comma.
I prefer the one comma version, but the other comma's don't change the legal meaning, I just find the one comma version makes it a bit more obvious. The 3 comma version is more natural to read aloud, where the extra comma's represent pauses.
“The line of text on his computer was short, but it was to the point, very vulgar, and it was a sort of farewell,”
Dated October 17... is this different from the subject of the suicide note thread? Different language, seemingly in response to some of the questions raised on that thread. Sounds weird, but it happened before, when the Norman PD was being pilloried on FR.
LOL, I should pay attention to which thread I'm on...
:)
Interesting. Thanks. I'd never seen it without the excess commas. Thanks also for the links, since I like to verify new info from Wikipedia.
The amendment reads logically with or without the 'first' comma, but the third one does not seem to contribute to any logical reading.
Actually in the case of the suicide in San Diego a later report stated that police found a large amount of ecstasy in the man's apartment. Presumably they waited to say what the lab was used for until THEIR labs had finished studying the pills they found. It was quite a large amount with a high street value. Sorry I don't have the link off-hand.
Qutoes from both articles:
"It was a single line of text on his computer," said the father, who lives in Colorado Springs. "The cursor was still blinking at the end."
The father said he could not recall the exact wording but said his son used profanity in the message and was obviously very angry. "He wrote he was dissatisfied with the situation and was going to quit living," the father said.
----
“The line of text on his computer was short, but it was to the point, very vulgar, and it was a sort of farewell,” Hinrichs said.
-----
“Joe was sitting on a bench away from the crowded stadium and away from people; it’s as simple as that,” he said. “People seem to forget that. His intentions were to end his life; he was trying to destroy himself and nothing else. I don’t like the way it has been written, especially if people can’t get the facts right.”
----
Sorry, it doesn't add up, IMO.
Thanks for those links Eastbound. They are appreciated! (o:
cool site! Thanks for the link. (o:
AP:
http://denverpost.com/news/ci_3123847
Article Launched: 10/17/2005 01:00:00 AM
region
Student who blew self up left note
By The Associated Press
The University of Oklahoma student from Colorado Springs who died after detonating an explosive device near a packed football stadium in Norman, Okla., left a message on his computer that he was going to quit living, his father said.
The FBI read the message to the father of Joel Henry Hinrichs III on Friday, after he came to Oklahoma to clear out his son's university- owned apartment.
Joel Henry Hinrichs Jr. said he understood investigators found the message on the computer screen when they arrived at the apartment.
"It was a single line of text on his computer," his father told The Oklahoman newspaper.
The elder Hinrichs said he could not recall the exact wording but said his son used profanity in the message and was obviously angry.
"He wrote he was dissatisfied with the situation and was going to quit living," the father said.
Investigators have said they may never know whether the student wanted to get inside the stadium. FBI officials also have said no links were found between the student and terrorist groups.
Joel Henry Hinrichs Jr. said he thinks his son was committing suicide and never intended to hurt anyone else.
The younger Hinrichs had a long fascination with ammunition and bombs, his relatives and friends said.
Inside his apartment in Norman were several used metal artillery shells, belts made of used brass shell casings, a box of spent bullets, military ammo containers and explosive-related materials.
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