The car identified as that of suicide bombing victim Joel Henry “Joe“ Hinrichs III, is parked in the parking lot behind his apartment in Norman Wednesday. Photo by Steve Sisney
Sorry if this is a repost:
http://www.newsok.com/article/1634950/?template=home/main
Thu October 6, 2005
Officer had clue before OU blast
By Randy Ellis and Ty McMahan
The Oklahoman
NORMAN - Police here last week missed a chance to investigate a University of Oklahoma student three days before he apparently blew himself up Saturday outside the university’s packed football stadium, The Oklahoman has confirmed.
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Joel “Joe” Henry Hinrichs III raised the suspicions of a Norman feed store manager and an off-duty Norman police officer Sept. 28 when he tried to buy the type of fertilizer used in the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.
The off-duty officer, who just happened to be in the store, was concerned enough about Hinrichs’ demeanor that he jotted down his license tag number and called the police department to check his identity, officials said.
“Normal protocol is for that officer to submit an intelligence report when he comes back on duty,” said Lt. Tom Easley, spokesman for the Norman Police Department. “My understanding is that when the officer did return to work, he did submit one, but that was after the fact.”
The bomb had already gone off.
Hinrichs, 21, is believed to have died in an explosion about 7:30 p.m. Saturday on a campus bench about 100 yards from Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Investigators are treating the death as a suicide. He was a junior engineering major.
Easley declined to release the intelligence report or name the officer who filed it, saying intelligence reports are confidential. A copy of the report was turned over the FBI, he said.
Dustin Ellison, general manager of Ellison Feed & Seed, said Hinrichs came to his store about 4 p.m. Sept. 28 and said he was looking for a particular kind of fertilizer called ammonium nitrate.
“I told him I didn’t have that,” said Ellison, 25.
Ellison said he became suspicious when the young man couldn’t answer the most simple questions, such as how much he wanted or what he planned to do with it.
“I asked if he was trying to green up his yard, and he said, ‘Something like that,’” Ellison said.
Hinrichs was wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt and a light green vest with a number of pockets on each side when he visited the store, Ellison said.
“All the pockets were full,” Ellison said, adding that he saw what appeared to be a wire with headphones attached protruding from one pocket.
“I don’t have any reason to believe it was anything other than that,” he said.
Ellison said Hinrichs was alone and calm throughout his visit.
Hinrichs drove off in a blue Lincoln Towncar, Ellison said.
Ellison said FBI agents came by his store Sunday and he identified Hinrichs from photos.
Easley, the Norman police spokesman, said he is skeptical police could have stopped the bombing, even if they immediately had begun investigating when the officer first called in the license number.
“Seventy-two hours on a piece of intelligence like that, I don’t know what we could have done anyway,” he said.
Officers could have used the tag number to get an address and then checked to see whether it was current, Easley said.
If they could identify a current address, they could have tried to question him, but that doesn’t mean Hinrichs would have had to answer, he said.
Intelligence reports normally are forwarded to the police department’s special operations unit, which categorizes them and decides what to do next, Easley said.
The unit deals mostly with drug investigations, so the information probably would have been forwarded to counter-terrorism officials to evaluate, he said.
Hinrichs’ Towncar remained outside his Norman apartment Wednesday.
The FBI apparently collected 13 plastic bottles, one car title and one insurance form from the car, according to paperwork on the front seat.
There also was a large atlas and several road maps on the front seat.
Cesar Robledo, Hinrichs’ next-door neighbor, said FBI agents questioned him about Hinrichs’ personality and habits, but didn’t ask about his religion or any materials he may have taken into the house.
“We always say, ‘What do they do over there?’ They don’t talk to us, so we don’t know,” said Robledo, 22. “We have no idea what’s on that side of the wall.”
no..this is new. Thanks for posting it.
Here we go again with the time frame stuff:
"..Hinrichs, 21, is believed to have died in an explosion about 7:30 p.m. Saturday on a campus bench about 100 yards from Gaylord Family "
This article pisses me off in a way..sounds like they are going to try and blame this poor off duty cop that witnessed the thing a few days before! Arghhhh... This cop is probably a hero and why Moron Boren knew about Joey Jihad before this whole thing "blew up"..