NO TERRORIST CONNECTIONS IN OC-II...
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.
Red Rock Canyon State Park, OK. It's the little green slice near Hinton, OK. A good long walk, about 72 miles from Norman.
And just what was the function of the circuit board? A timer, a remotely activated firing mechanism? What? Makes a hell of a difference. But of course if they blew it up on scene, we might never know.
Re: my #9. Not readin' the whole thread are we? 8)
I have heard of going off half cocked, but this is ridiculous.
A little missing information is, "Did he have a ticket to the game?"
Do you believe someone else detonated it? I do believe that he did not intend to commit suicide.
later read. And FYI.
Yes, I think someone else detonated. I don't think he meant to commit suicide either.
The virgins were waiting
I hope they all look like Helen Thomas!
Sarasota and The Victor nail down the reality with their comments below.
Believe the accident refers to the fact that it accidently detonated outside the stadium--before he was able to get in to detonate it.
5 posted on 03/01/2006 8:05:11 AM PST by sarasota
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Hadn't heard that. Got a reference or link?
Are you serious? THis was major news.
"Stupid enough to blow himself up!
Stupid enough to convert to Islam!"
Those two things seem to go hand in hand. I just wish they'd practice blowing themselves up away from the civilized world.
Do any of you recall how everyone insisted that his Pakistani roommate (you know, the one with the one-way ticket to Morrocco?) didn't know anything about the bomb-building activities?
Don't doubt for a second its true, and I would bet my last dollar the incident was islamist influenced. Have wondered when the cover-up would being breaking apart.
Some of the relatives of people who killed themselves in Jonestown went on TV, and family member of the occasional gaming or music "related" suicide sometimes hit the talk show circuit to make life miserable for non-suicidal geeks. While I certainly agree the guy was attempting some sort of poorly thought out spin of the story that doesn't mean the feds had anything to do with it.
I can believe that. Of course I also believe in the tooth fairy, santa claus, and the Easter bunny.
The only thing accidental about it was that bomb webt off before he intended it to.
It was explored in depth, but the MSM just yawned and moved on. You can use the FR search feature to dig up the threads from that period. Just stick Oklahoma into the box and that should do it.
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