Posted on 03/01/2006 8:01:51 AM PST by cashion
NORMAN - A Norman police bomb expert said Tuesday he does not believe University of Oklahoma student Joel Henry Hinrichs III committed suicide by blowing himself up outside a packed football stadium.
"I believe he accidentally blew himself up," Sgt. George Mauldin said.
Mauldin said Hinrichs, 21, an engineering student, had two to three pounds of triacetone triperoxide, commonly known as TATP, in a backpack in his lap when it exploded Oct. 1.
When asked if he believed Hinrichs meant to enter the stadium with the explosives, Mauldin replied, "I don't believe he intended for an explosion to occur at that spot (on the park bench)."
"Some of us will forever wonder what he (Hinrichs) was doing at that time, at that place," Police Chief Phil Cotten said.
Hinrichs was sitting on a park bench 173 yards from the OU stadium during the second quarter of OU's night game against Kansas State when the TATP inside his backpack detonated.
"Someone saw him fiddling with it (the backpack) shortly before the explosion occurred. I think he got cocky, and it went off," Mauldin said.
Mauldin and Cotten briefed Norman City Council members about the explosion and their agency's investigation in a conference before Tuesday night's council meeting.
The FBI has said in the past its investigation did not uncover any links between the student and terrorist organizations. They have said they may never know whether the student wanted to get inside the stadium.
The student's father, Joel Hinrichs Jr., has said his son intended to kill only himself.
Mauldin, head of the Norman bomb unit, said investigators detonated at the scene the remains of Hinrichs' backpack, which contained wires, a battery and a circuit board.
Graphic photos of Hinrichs' headless body still upright on the park bench next to a tattered backpack were shown to the council.
Mauldin said investigators found "quite a bit more" explosive material inside Hinrichs' Parkview apartment on Sooner Drive, southeast of Lindsey Street and Stinson Drive.
A pint-size Tupperware container on a counter was filled with TATP Hinrichs had manufactured, Mauldin said.
A pill bottle packed with TATP with a fuse stuck in it was found behind a computer, he said.
The FBI reported in November that 0.4 pound of TATP was found inside Hinrichs' apartment. TATP is the most unstable explosive known and is "the explosive of choice" in the Middle East, Mauldin said. "It is so volatile, even a small amount on the tip of a finger will explode if it comes within 8 inches of a match," Mauldin said.
Investigators also found a quantity of acetone and hydrogen, components necessary for manufacturing TATP, inside the student's apartment.
"We found evidence of him compressing TATP, which is foolhardy, given its properties," Mauldin said.
Making TATP is a seven-step process, Mauldin said, with the substance becoming explosive after three steps.
Bomb squad officers used great care in removing the material from Hinrichs' apartment for fear it would explode, Mauldin said.
"And we wanted to get it out of there quickly. The longer TATP sits, the more likely (it is) to explode spontaneously," he said.
Officers also removed "a lot" of military rounds, many of them live, and pieces of metal from the student's apartment, Mauldin said.
Metal fragments often are added to explosives to make them more deadly, he said.
The explosives Hinrichs had outside the stadium were pure, with no fragmentation added, Mauldin said.
However, he said, the student kept careful notes of experimentation with explosives in the weeks leading up to the Oct. 1 blast.
Notes indicated Hinrichs experimented with adding fragmentation to explosives as if "he were trying to make a damaging product," Mauldin said.
Most of Hinrichs' experiments occurred at Red Rock Canyon, according to the notes.
FYI
It might have been a case of "Premature Jihadulation"..
Believe the accident refers to the fact that it accidently detonated outside the stadium--before he was able to get in to detonate it.
The fact that the bomb didn't go off when the bomber wanted it to, doesn't make the bombing accidental.
That's funny!!!!
Many thanks!
"Hinrichs' backpack, which contained wires, a battery and a circuit board."
A timer? It wasn't suicide, his father's just in denial. This kid was gonna do something!
Just a total coincidence that he was a convert to Islam.
Yeah... he ''accidentally'' made a bomb and carried it to a packed stadium. I hate it when that happens.
LOL, good one.
Interesting to see what comes out of his computer - could be ones of those " Look how easy it is to do " wiseguys.
Kind of like that one who put some modeling clay on an airplane, then wanted the publicity because it "could have been" plastic explosive.
This guy might have just just took it a bit too far and won his Darwin award.
Hope the cops are looking for accomplices with videocams.
Yeah... he ''accidentally'' made a bomb and carried it to a packed stadium. I hate it when that happens.
Actually, they are saying that he intentionally made the bomb and tried to get into the stadium. The “accident” was that it went off when he was by himself, rather than surrounded by innocent people.
Graphic photos of Hinrichs' headless body still upright on the park bench next to a tattered backpack were shown to the council.
Yes, let's not forget that little fact.
bs ping for later
Thanks for posting. I was getting ready to post it and checked one last time to make sure it wasn't already out there. It sounds like the Norman authorities aren't going to let the "suicide" story stand. Maybe some of them are finally getting some courage to challenge the "official" story.
this was surely a failed terror attack - not sure if this guy was just some lone jihadi-wanna-be, or had an organization behind him. of course, that's what the investigation should be about, if there is even going to be one into that aspect of the event.
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