Posted on 10/09/2005 8:56:49 AM PDT by MizSterious
Father apologizes for son's actions
By Nolan Clay and Ty McMahan
The Oklahoman
The father of a University of Oklahoma student who died in a bombing has apologized for the actions of his son.
"I truly hang my head," the father, Joel Hinrichs Jr., said from Colorado Springs, Colo.
Joel "Joe" Henry Hinrichs III, an engineering student, died Oct. 1 when a bomb went off outside the football stadium during the second quarter of OU's night game against Kansas State.
The FBI and OU are treating the bombing as a suicide by a troubled loner, rather than a failed terrorist attack.
"I feel obligated to apologize to everyone whose inconvenience has increased, or had worse things happen to them, due to Joe III," the father told The Oklahoman.
He said he wanted to specifically apologize to the Muslim students who were shackled and questioned during the investigation, apartment residents who had to be evacuated, and "the hundreds of thousands of future OU sporting event attendees who will now endure even more rigorous, restrictive search and carry restrictions."
The dead student, 21, was remembered last week as depressed and so mesmerized with bombs that he bought artillery shells on eBay.
Hinrichs started at OU in the fall of 2002 after being a National Merit Scholar at Wasson High School in Colorado Springs.
He was so depressed his second semester at OU that he had trouble going to class and underwent counseling, his father said.
He dropped out in 2003-2004 and worked doing inventories at night, the father said. He returned but lost a scholarship because of his grades.
"Internally, he suffered from both depression and an utter lack of hope in his own future," said the father.
"He could tell that other people were relating around him and even trying to relate to him. He could not relate back. ... My guess is that ... was very close to the root of his problem."
Early warning signs?
The father said his son had been depressed at times in high school, too.
The younger Hinrichs built a bomb out of match heads in an empty tube at age 13 or 14, his father said.
"He was hiding around the corner. It made a loud noise and he brought the broken, open CO2 cartridge to me and had this look of awe in his eyes," he said.
The younger Hinrichs also regularly bought inert artillery shells over eBay, his father said.
"Like all little boys, he has an interest in things that go bang. ... He just took it a little farther than most. ... He showed them to me, 'Look at this, dad,'" he said.
He got in trouble at the end of the eighth grade in Illinois for bringing a 3-foot metal handle to school, The Oklahoman confirmed.
The younger Hinrichs spent six weeks on house arrest, wearing an ankle bracelet, and then spent ninth grade in an alternative school.
Still, there were few outward signs he was suicidal. His last e-mail to his father, Sept. 14, was about his father's offer of a Subaru to drive.
"Does the Subaru get good mileage? I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," the younger Hinrichs wrote.
OU President David Boren described the student as a loner with emotional difficulties and personal problems. Classmates said he was different and had been struggling again with his grades.
"He was really quiet, didn't really interact with any of the other students," said Garrett Jones, a Tulsa junior who had engineering classes with Hinrichs.
Jones, 21, said Hinrichs was different in his manner and clothing.
"He wore this little green vest all the time. It was really weird. ... You could look around in a classroom and be able to pick this guy out that he was a little unusual," Jones said.
Another classmate, junior Andrew House, told the OU student newspaper: "He seemed like he was a nice kid. He didn't seem troubled at all. Some people might have thought he was weird, because he knew a lot about ammunition and stuff like that."
Members of an OU organization of engineers, architects and scientists said Hinrichs was quiet, reserved and not very involved in the group.
"The guy liked guns and ammo and he said something about trying to buy some ammo. That's just what he liked," said Paul Lawson, executive director of the Triangle Fraternity, who visited the OU chapter last week.
At meetings, Hinrichs talked about his struggles and successes in class, a new job, trouble sleeping and a road trip to Las Vegas, according to minutes.
He also talked about "missing ammo," building a catapult and carving a club with a pocket knife, according to minutes.
He had his own Web site. It read: "This is Joe Hinrichs' website. He currently doesn't have anything to put on it, but it does exist and it is here."
Officials have said investigators do not believe the student was trying to get inside the stadium or had any help. His father said the FBI told him his son made the bomb out of hydrogen peroxide, a common disinfectant.
Reading the article, you see a depressed young man with few friends -- exactly the type of person targeted by terrorist/Muslim groups as a possible dupe. Using Americans to destroy this country gives them the greatest satisfaction.
Correction: I DO NOT THINK I CAN BELIEVE THE FBI ON THESE MATTERS.
You're right, I should have included it. Apologies to all who arrived without the barf bag! There is a lot in this article to cause at the very least heartburn if you're looking for truth. I note that two people wrote this (or there are two bylines). I'm wondering if they had to take turns running to the loo and typing the story.
He's pretty much the same personality profile they had for Johnny Walker Lindh, the shoe bomber, and for that matter Tim McVeigh.
From the interview:
"His last e-mail to his father, Sept. 14, was about his father's offer of a Subaru to drive.
"Does the Subaru get good mileage? I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," the younger Hinrichs wrote."
This seems a bit odd. Do people that are going to off themselves in a few days worry about their cars getting good gas mileage?
Especially given the vehicle he was currently driving--Lincoln Towncar...
Yep..naturally he would be thinking about a car that got better gas mileage than a towncar. It was probably not easy keeping gas in his current car on a student's allowance. Looks to me he was thinking about THE FUTURE of his pocketbook.
Maybe it's just my computer, but that link won't open for me. Says Media Player can't access it.
Theorizing that a government is like a vast corporation, if you change the CEO, CFO, CIO, etc every few years, but leave the middle managers and low-teir employees, doesn't it take a long time to get a different result from the new leadership? Since we know with fair certainty that the Oklahoma City bombing, TWA 800, Waco, and Ruby Ridge have been covered up to a degree, doesn't it seem improbable that there have been no successful attacks since 9.11?
ping
Read the story backwards. It's all in there.
>>>Maybe it's just my computer, but that link won't open for me. Says Media Player can't access it.<<<
I just tried the link and the video played fine.
But here is a direct link to the video you can cut & paste into your browser
mms://msnbc.wmod.llnwd.net/a275/e1/video/100/n_ritacosby_suicide_051007.asf
Hope this helps.
PS: As others, I'm not buying the suicide explaination and the ridicioulus position from OU's president David L. Boren on this matter. Let's be honest, the father is not going to admit it if his son "got involved with the wrong type of people", and tried to commit a terrorist act......if this is what actually occurred.
Yep they are making sure Dad gives the correct spin.
I love the line about Hydrogen Peroxide, if I remember other posts it was not common household Hydrogen Peroxide that was used in the bomb. Any one remember?
I think the Dad is taking isolated incidents in JH life to prove how depressed he was. But you could probably do the same in the life of any teen or young adult. Especially if they are under a lot of pressure at school.
Nothing could suck worse than raising a child who combines a major mental illness with a fascination with explosives. Except perhaps having someone around to provide a justification for combining them.
Fat, toothless neighbor bump!!
The Admin just came out with 10 incidents that were prevented since 911. 3 of them were airplane hijackings.
They released this list Thursdsay, I think.
Do me a favor, could someone let me know what was posted on the screen/door of the apartment on this video:
http://www.newsok.com/video/section/73/#
Believe it or not, some of the videos are not accessable now... hmmmm.
Re: dad. This sounds different from his earlier interviews, is there anyway we could find out if he was ever reprimanded or suspended due to explosions in class/on school property... since he was so in awe of explosives?
Who is the official keeper of the files and diggers on this? I know doug is one... but who else? So I can send what I find?
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Pres. Boren and the FBI deny having made the above statement.
The best part was when the father said "He did it there in the open so he wouldn't hurt anyone"... Hello?
His father has changed his story on his history making bombs quite a bit... funny how his 'friends' (of which according to his dad, he didn't do people... unless they were Paki roommates and going to the mosque of course), didn't know anything about his bomb experiments.
Nothing to see here... move along... no conspiracy here... ignore the bomb squad's two trips and following explosions at the apartment... nothing to see... don't be concerned... move along.
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