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UNC Hit-And-Run Suspect's Apartment Complex Evacuated

POSTED: 5:21 pm EST March 3, 2006
UPDATED: 5:29 pm EST March 3, 2006

CARRBORO, N.C. -- Carrboro police have evacuated the apartment complex where the suspect in the University of North Carolina hit-and-run incident lived because of what they describe as a "potentially dangerous situation."

Authorities told NBC-17, 23-year-old Mohammed Reza Taheriazar, was taken into custody shortly after an SUV plowed through "The Pit," a popular gathering spot for students at UNC around noon.

Six people -- five students and a visiting scholar -- were treated at UNC Hospitals, though a hospital spokesman said none was seriously injured. Three other people declined treatment at the scene, police said.

Taheriazar called police to surrender and then awaited officers on a side street about two miles away from campus, town police Capt. Brian Curran said.

"He kind of gave himself up," said Officer Herbert Bryant of the university's Department of Public Safety.

Taheriazar was being held Friday by campus police, who planned to charge him with multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, the university said in a statement.

Authorities told NBC-17 Taheriazar made a comment while he was being taken into custody which prompted police to rush to University Commons Apartment Complex off of Smith Level Road.

Police, SWAT teams and fire departments have swarmed the complex. Capt. Joel Booker, of the Carrboro Police Department, told NBC-17 authorities have not entered Taheriazar's apartment. They are apparently waiting on legal permission to do so.

Taheriazar has two roommoates, one of which authorities have already located. They are still searching for the other.

The Pit is a sunken, brick-paved area surrounded by two libraries, a dining hall and the student union. It does not have any easy access points for vehicles and can't be reached without deliberation.

On a sunny, cool day like Friday, the Pit is a busy center of campus activities, with students perched along the walkways and steps. Friday's noontime crowd included a gathering of candidates for Black Student Movement elections.

Sophomore Jeff Hoffman's arm was injured in the hit-and-run.

"I see everyone kind of part because there's a car coming through and the next thing I know, I'm on his windshield," Hoffman told the campus newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel.

Sophomore Scott Wilson also witnessed the incident.

"He slowly came in, and I thought he was going to stop or something," Wilson, a candidate for BSM vice president, told The Daily Tar Heel. "But then he sped right through."