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OU bombing accidental, experts say
The Oklahoman ^ | March 1, 2006 | Jane Glenn Cannon

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.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Oklahoma
KEYWORDS: bomb; bomber; footballgame; hinrichs; jihadinamerica; nonterroristattack; norman; okcbombing; oklahoma; ou; oubomber; oubombing; stadium; suicide; terror; terrorist; uok; workaccident
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A little further information and opinion on the OU bombing...
1 posted on 03/01/2006 8:01:52 AM PST by cashion
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To: PhiKapMom


FYI


2 posted on 03/01/2006 8:03:04 AM PST by onyx (IF ONLY 10% of Muslims are radical, that's still 120 MILLION who want to kill us.)
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To: cashion
"We found evidence of him compressing TATP, which is foolhardy, given its properties,"
So if it is so foolhardy, how can it be an accident?
3 posted on 03/01/2006 8:03:30 AM PST by Andy from Beaverton (I only vote Republican to stop the Democrats)
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To: Andy from Beaverton

It might have been a case of "Premature Jihadulation"..


4 posted on 03/01/2006 8:04:46 AM PST by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: Andy from Beaverton

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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To: cashion

The fact that the bomb didn't go off when the bomber wanted it to, doesn't make the bombing accidental.


6 posted on 03/01/2006 8:05:54 AM PST by The_Victor (If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
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To: sheik yerbouty

That's funny!!!!


7 posted on 03/01/2006 8:06:53 AM PST by newfreep
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To: newfreep

Many thanks!


8 posted on 03/01/2006 8:08:45 AM PST by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: cashion

"Hinrichs' backpack, which contained wires, a battery and a circuit board."
A timer? It wasn't suicide, his father's just in denial. This kid was gonna do something!


9 posted on 03/01/2006 8:09:10 AM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: onyx

Just a total coincidence that he was a convert to Islam.


10 posted on 03/01/2006 8:11:24 AM PST by Travis McGee (--- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com ---)
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To: cashion

Yeah... he ''accidentally'' made a bomb and carried it to a packed stadium. I hate it when that happens.


11 posted on 03/01/2006 8:11:36 AM PST by Lexington Green (All your ports are belong to us.)
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To: sheik yerbouty
It might have been a case of "Premature Jihadulation"..

LOL, good one.

12 posted on 03/01/2006 8:12:02 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: cashion

Interesting to see what comes out of his computer - could be ones of those " Look how easy it is to do " wiseguys.

Kind of like that one who put some modeling clay on an airplane, then wanted the publicity because it "could have been" plastic explosive.

This guy might have just just took it a bit too far and won his Darwin award.

Hope the cops are looking for accomplices with videocams.


13 posted on 03/01/2006 8:15:50 AM PST by RS ("I took the drugs because I liked them and I found excuses to take them, so I'm not weaseling.")
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To: Lexington Green
Yeah... he ''accidentally'' made a bomb and carried it to a packed stadium. I hate it when that happens.

Actually, they are saying that he intentionally made the bomb and tried to get into the stadium. The “accident” was that it went off when he was by himself, rather than surrounded by innocent people.

Graphic photos of Hinrichs' headless body still upright on the park bench next to a tattered backpack were shown to the council.


14 posted on 03/01/2006 8:17:48 AM PST by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: cashion
Notes indicated Hinrichs experimented with adding fragmentation to explosives as if "he were trying to make a damaging product," Mauldin said.

...and yet, he was only trying to commit suicide.

What was his roommate's name again?

(ring, ring)
"Bob?"
"Yes, Mr. President."
"You know, with all this press about the port deal, we really can't afford any breaking stories about domestic terrorism."
"Not to worry, Mr. President, I've got it covered."
"Thanks, I knew I could count on you and the FBI."
15 posted on 03/01/2006 8:19:59 AM PST by Old_Mil (http://www.constitutionparty.org - Forging a Rebirth of Freedom.)
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To: Travis McGee

Yes, let's not forget that little fact.


16 posted on 03/01/2006 8:20:42 AM PST by fishtank
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To: cashion
Yeah, he intended to commit suicide, but did not want to hurt anyone else. Helloooo? Ever hear of staying home and swallowing a handful of pills?

The refusal to see the facts for what they are is simply breathtaking.

He had a bomb in his backpack outside a crowded stadium! What part of that sounds like a despondent student who just wants to do HIMself in? Like my little boy would say,
"DUH."
17 posted on 03/01/2006 8:20:54 AM PST by Shelayne
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To: Old_Mil

bs ping for later


18 posted on 03/01/2006 8:21:15 AM PST by vrwc0915 ("Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants,)
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To: cashion

Thanks for posting. I was getting ready to post it and checked one last time to make sure it wasn't already out there. It sounds like the Norman authorities aren't going to let the "suicide" story stand. Maybe some of them are finally getting some courage to challenge the "official" story.


19 posted on 03/01/2006 8:22:29 AM PST by Nancie Drew
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To: cashion

this was surely a failed terror attack - not sure if this guy was just some lone jihadi-wanna-be, or had an organization behind him. of course, that's what the investigation should be about, if there is even going to be one into that aspect of the event.


20 posted on 03/01/2006 8:26:42 AM PST by oceanview
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