Posted on 10/05/2005 10:22:17 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
NORMAN, Okla. -- The Pakistani roommate of a man authorities said died when he detonated an explosive device outside a crowded football stadium was led in handcuffs from a party shortly after Saturday's explosion, the head of an Islamic student group said.
Fazal M. Cheema, a finance major, shared a university-owned apartment with Joel Hinrichs III, 21, who died Saturday when a device attached to his body exploded as he sat on a bench outside George Lynn Cross Hall.
Cheema and three other Muslim students were led in handcuffs from a party by police after the blast, Ashraf Hussein, president of the Muslim Student Association, said Tuesday. They later were released.
Cheema is "a really, really nice guy," Hussein said.
OU President David Boren said authorities continue to believe that Hinrichs did not try to get into the stadium and that he acted alone. He said Hinrichs' roommate, along with his acquaintances, were questioned by federal authorities.
"All the people who lived in that building, all the people that lived in the building surrounding it, all the people who knew him well or were living in proximity to him ... have been questioned; none of those people have been held by law enforcement," Boren said.
The FBI said in a statement Tuesday that there is no current threat posed by additional explosive materials, that there is no known threat from anyone else related to the incident and that there is no known link between Hinrichs and any terrorist or extremist organization or activities.
Hinrichs' father, Joel Hinrichs Jr., said the FBI re-interviewed him Tuesday at his home in Colorado Springs, Colo. The father told investigators his son was skeptical of ideology.
"Joe would have become a Muslim fanatic when pigs fly," the father side.
Meanwhile, Norman feed store operator Dustin Ellison said Hinrichs attempted to purchase ammonium nitrate a few days before the explosion.
Ellison, whose family operates Ellison Feed and Seed, said the store no longer carries the product because of new federal guidelines regarding its sale. Ammonium nitrate can be used to build bombs and was a key ingredient in the 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Hinrichs' father said the FBI told him the bomb his son had was made of hydrogen peroxide. He said the FBI told him more high-density hydrogen peroxide was found in the apartment.
OK. If Henrich picked his roommate, that makes the "I hated my roommate" theory less plausible. Did he in fact pick his roommate? How did he hook up with him? Doesn't seem to be academic given their different backgrounds...
Very good point.
Because so few paid attention to what really happened in 1995, the same people are still attacking us in 2005.
Notice he did not say he (Joe) would have become Muslim, WHEN PIGS FLY; butFANATICMuslim when pigs fly.
I'm watching pigs fly by.
oops, guess this has already been done...
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