OU bomber had huge explosive stash; Mystery remains over suicide outside Sooners game

World Net Daily ^ | 10/3/05

[hispanarepublicana]

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Local and federal agents were carting away what was described as a huge cache of explosives from the apartment of the 21-year-old student who blew himself up outside the stadium where 84,000 watched a Sooners football game.

Joel Henry Hinrichs III, 21, a junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., died in the explosion, according to FBI officials.

Investigators believe Hinrichs detonated a bomb about 8 p.m. Saturday, just 100 yards away from the packed football stadium.

Police were overheard telling residents it would take "several trips and could take up to 24 hours" to remove it all, according to the Daily Oklahoman.

A canister trailer used for detonating or transporting potentially explosive material was being used to haul items away.

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.

[not_apathetic_anymore]

I just looked at the KOCO TV site to see if they had anything online yet about the Freepers reports of the missing Paki roommate.

Not yet, but they do have a story with quotes from the father about how his son wasn't politically motivated (the one he only had recent contact with via some email.)

they also had this quote

Donald Hamilton, interim director of the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in Oklahoma City, said it appears Saturday's incident was not an act of terrorism.

"Scholars of terrorism immediately and categorically exclude irrational acts from their definition of terrorism," Hamilton said. "Terrorists have purpose. They have motive. It's just as simple as that ... and if that is not present, it's not terrorism."

More and more interesting tidbits come in and they really are trying to keep us from making the jump to terrorism.

[Minus_The_Bear]

Where are the 5 injured? Convering this up borders on the criminal.

[Shqipo]

It's good that certain crowded venues have bag checks, but a bomber can do as much damage standing in the line with those waiting to be searched, or when an event ends and the crowds flow out.
--Not as spectacular as disrupting the game, but equally deadly nonetheless.

[LibertyRocks]

Yeah, I noticed that... the family and the FBI are really trying to push the fact that this was NOT terrorism related - saying he had no motive. Interesting that the father is SO SURE that he had no political feelings and such after it was reported he only had occasional email contact and the last time he saw him was a year ago for half and hour when he was going through town on a "road trip" (the stuff about contact with his family was reported in the CO Springs Gazette).

[DCPatriot]

Actually, it not horrific at all.

They've found something they like. As long as we don't talk about religion or President Bush...it's cool.

Damn, I miss them! ;^)

[LibertyRocks]

I agree. I doubt it's about the safety of the individuals involved as it would be to the terrorists' benefit to have witnesses come forward. The bad guys want us to know about these things... I can only assume that they are denying reports of injuries so the press doesn't look for them and thus the FBI would have an easier time controlling the flow of information. If that's good or bad at this point, I'm not sure, but I'd say it's a BAD idea on the part of the FBI because it will undermine American's trust of the gov't and the bureau in the long-run.

[PhiKapMom]

I would say 8 and some are heading for 10. I don't think I have heard any in the 1-5 category today. News media was already skeptical last night at the 5:30 news, and it did not improve today with the picture.

It has to be frustrating to have news to report and no one going on the record. When that frustration comes out on TV, you know it is bad.

We have KFOR, KOCO, KWTV, KOKH for TV stations.

[saradippity]

The indelible mark on my mind regards Queens is the fireman beating his chest and screaming at the terrorists, "I'm in Far Rockaway,come get me!!". Within days the plane went down in Far Rockaway,I believe. Very scary!!

[PhiKapMom]

Outstanding. More of the sanitizing of this incident -- would like to know why.

Guess they thought the original picture would suffice but that latest picture of him hit like wildfire on the OU campus. A lot of people I know doubted the official version but now they believe the official version is a LIE!

[Peach]

I'd forgotten about Berg being there until you mentioned it the other day, PhiKapMom.

Will check in tomorrow.

[LibertyRocks]

BTTT for a grammatical correction! (o;

*half and hour
should read "half an hour"

[oceanview]

there are. in fact, based on what we know and the history of it - I would rank that part of Oklahoma #2 behind northern NJ as a terror cell hot spot.

[indcons]

You're right.......my initial suspicion was aroused by the fact that people do not commit suicide by bomb usually in the USA. Right now, there is little doubt that this character belongs to the same club as John Walker Lindh, Jose Padilla, and Richard Reid.
To recap:
*The guy uses a bomb to kill himself. (confirmed)
*There is a huge cache of explosives in his apartment. Cops indicate that it'll take as much as 24 hours to clear his apartment. (confirmed)
*He lived across the Islamic Center in Norman (according to an earlier post, he shifted out of his dorms into this apartment). (confirmed?)
* Unverified reports indicate that a bus driver in the parked bus saw him transfering stuff (the bomb?) from his backpack into his vest (this will be a huge thing, if confirmed)
*He had a Pakistani roomie (confirmed?)
*And finally, this:
(confirmed!!)

As the American Thinker says, " I hope this is simply a ruse, however transparent, to help the FBI conduct its investigation into this apparently botched act of domestic terrorism without alerting Hinrich's possible accomplices. For surely, in the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary, anyone who blows himself up in public near large crowds of people should be presumed to be a terrorist, not a bizarrely suicidal college student."

Does this theory also explain the national media's silence?

[indcons]

Donald Hamilton, interim director of the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in Oklahoma City, said it appears Saturday's incident was not an act of terrorism. "Scholars of terrorism immediately and categorically exclude irrational acts from their definition of terrorism," Hamilton said. "Terrorists have purpose. They have motive. It's just as simple as that ... and if that is not present, it's not terrorism."

Hamilton is as clueless as anybody else. How does he know there is no motive to method to Johnny Jihadi's madness?

[saradippity]

Did either of your sons give you any idea of why? You can Freep me if you would rather not comment on this thread.

[not_apathetic_anymore]

You're right, I don't think he can have any better idea about motivations than we can. So why even include this guy's statement in the story? I'm guessing that the powers that be want to reassure us via some authority figure that this is not terrorism.

I'd prefer that they just report and let me decide:)

[LibertyRocks]

"Does this theory also explain the national media's silence?"

I don't know if covering things up at this point is prudent on their part or not. I suppose it might be why they would suppress the story, but on the other hand the more information citizens are armed with the less likely these types of things will succeed. Of course, that's just my opinion - I am by no means an expert on any of this.

[DCPatriot]

It's very hard to discuss without saying way too much...if you know what I mean.

[LibertyRocks]

Regarding disparity in coverage of this story please consider the following...

Google NEWS search totals:

OU related stories TOTAL: 349
NY Boating accident TOTAL: 1,564
Bali Explosions accident TOTAL: 2,515
(for main Bali info articles. Numerous other hits regarding victims, etc...)

[PhiKapMom]

Channel 4 in OKC just reported the body is at the medical examiners office and it may be months before a cause of death is known (?). They don't know if it was an accident or suicide (?). They are not even sure it is him because DNA has not been determined yet. Also showed the stadium gates being padlocked so we couldn't get out but an enterprising young man did with a camera. Final statement was the FBI is the lead investigator and they are being totally tight lipped about this whole deal.

Also showed the picture of the next door neighbor moving to an apartment downstairs for whatever reason.

This is a report from Channel 4 in OKC.