Posted on 03/26/2006 5:32:52 AM PST by NCjim
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The man who told authorities he drove a SUV into a crowd of students at UNC three weeks ago appeared in court. After the hearing, family members said they are shocked by their loved one's actions and words.
Mohammed Taheri-azar, 22, appeared to laugh during a hearing earlier in the day as witnesses described the attack on the university's flagship campus.
Taheri-Azar told investigators that he drove through the crowd at the Pit, a popular gathering spot on campus, because he wanted to kill people as payback for the killing of Muslims around the world.
Laila Taheri-Azar, Mohammed's older sister, told reporters that her brother was an average guy who liked to fish and camp with his friends and he also followed NASCAR.
"Please let us echo in your ears that my brother was and always has been a kind, gentle and pure soul," she said. "His current actions and words are as much a source of shock and distress to us as they are to you."
In court Friday, family members of Taheri-Azar sat in the courtroom as four students took the stand to discuss what happened on March 3. Taheri-azar, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, appeared to be reading the Quran during much of the hearing and seemed to laugh at times during testimony.
UNC freshman Alex Slater said he had just finished lunch that day and was walking to class when he noticed the SUV in the area.
"He rolled up right next to us and I looked inside the car and there is the driver, and he just stepped on the gas and turned the wheel," he said. "He just floored it right through the pit."
While I was in the Army stationed in Germany we would go out for an evening meal. They served beer in all the restaurants, and guys I knew would dip a finger in their beer and let a drop fall on their napkin.
I saw this several times, and finally asked one of the guys about it.
He explained that he was a Muslim and their religion forbid drinking one drop of alcohol.
He explained that the drop he let drip on his napkin was the drop he wasn't going to drink.
I would say to his sister that actions speak louder than words.
I would also say that defendants, and other trial participants, must not be reading books, the Koran or otherwise, during proceedings. This man may indeed have lost his mind, it is common for serious mental illness to manifest in people in their 20s.
Yeh,and probably a good neighbor.Dont fool yourself into thinking that there are not a lot who think like him.Just laying low.
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