Posted on 10/05/2007 11:48:24 PM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast
37 months for brother of man who 'exploded' at OU game
By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News October 5, 2007
A Colorado Springs man whose brother blew himself up outside an Oklahoma football game in 2005 was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison today for threatening an FBI agent.
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Blackburn called Thomas C. Hinrichs, who had an AK-47 assault rifle and other paramilitary gear in his car when he was arrested, "a time bomb for our community."
He also said Hinrichs should have a full mental evaluation and treatment while in prison and be under supervised release for three years after he gets out.
Hinrichs, 28, spoke for nearly 30 minutes during the hearing, repeatedly saying he had been the victim throughout his life of extreme violence, and that the FBI agents — whom he referred to as "dogs" — had committed treason by not doing anything to stop the "terrorism" committed against him.
The sometimes rambling statement also touched on Hinrichs' time in the Army, his childhood abuse, the Revolutionary War, the war crimes trials at Nuremberg and discussions he had with Ted Haggard, the disgraced former minister at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. "I've been a basket case my whole life," he said. "I am not normal."
A jury convicted Hinrichs in June of threatening a federal agent in November 2006. According to the FBI, authorities opened a domestic terrorism investigation into Hinrichs the day after his brother, Joel Hinrichs, committed suicide by detonating an explosive device attached to his neck....
(Excerpt) Read more at rockymountainnews.com ...
Curious.
ping!!
A media non-event that does not fit the MSM multicultural template. Had Hinrichs been a Christian fanatic or Mormon polygamist, the coverage would have been wall to wall.
-—Remember Joel Hinrichs? The OU undergrad who unaccountably started sprouting a scraggly jihadi beard, shopped for ANFO, frequented the local mosque, and ultimately offed himself, perhaps prematurely, outside a packed stadium with a nail-studded bomb-vest?-—
Oh yes, the no connection to Muslim terrorists suicide... :^)
Sounds like a family tree that definitely needs some pruning.
No need for me to post now, you said it.
Such a bizarre story. The thing that baffled me at the time was the virtual media blackout when it happened. Here you have someone blowing himself up less than 100 yards from 80,000 people watching a football game and it barely raised an eyebrow.
See, that's what I can't figure out. It seems to me that the media would be just as interested in reporting this story as in ignoring it. I would think they'd love to be able to have a terrorist attack on US soil to mar the Bush record on domestic terror attacks and the whole "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" line. I think there's more to this than media bias.
They need a little chlorine in that gene pool.
Sorry but your horns are gonna get bbq’d Saturday by the Sooners.
That's OK. God listens to our boy McCoy, and we should pull this off.
It sounds like Tom Hinrichs may be a paranoid schizophrenic. Or, maybe everybody *is* out to get him.
In one of the earlier articles, his father said he had had a conversation with him (Tom, Joel’s brother) about that.
Let me see if it’s in my notes ... yeah, here, from Nov 22, 2006:
~~~~~
“ ... On Oct. 31 [2006], he had an argument with his father, who said he confronted Thomas about his feelings that the world was out to get him. His son allegedly pushed him backwards in his chair, knocking him onto the floor. “This is what I do to people who lie,” he yelled, according to court documents.
The elder Hinrichs told police his son knows right from wrong but has mental health problems.
After receiving the father’s report, Colorado Springs police arrested Thomas at Pikes Peak, where he has been a student off and on for the past year.
He told police he was carrying a rifle because federal agents had harassed him and threatened his life. Although he denied planning to use the rifle against “any specific person,” he also said he was carrying the weapon because of an FBI agent named “Todd.” The affidavit did not give Todd’s last name because Hinrichs does not know it, said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.
“He stated that Todd should be hung from a tree and that he dreamed of seeing Todd hang from a tree,” according to the affidavit, which also read that Hinrichs daydreamed about lying in wait at the FBI office and shooting Todd when he arrived at work.
Hinrichs also considered killing his high school principal and his father, according to the affidavit.
Since high school, his parents required him and his brother to visit mental health professionals, who “stripped me of my right to defend myself and interact with other students.” He said he no longer is an American citizen and asked to be deported to China, according to police.
If convicted of the federal charge, he faces 10 years in prison.
It’s not clear whether Hinrichs will face charges in connection with his comments about killing his father and principal. “It’s part of the ongoing investigation,” Dorschner said. ...”
~~~~~
>>>I’m not sure what the childhood abuse was about - haven’t seen anything definitive on it. The family moved around a whole lot for the dad’s job and sometimes the father would move, but the family didn’t.
The older of the 5 kids would just be in charge of the younger ones. I know I probably shouldn’t speculate about this one thing, but I guess I will. The dad and the rest of his family are very active in the Lutheran Church, but the mom and at least one sister are devout Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I think it might mess with a young person’s head to have to stay out of singing the national anthem or saluting the flag - if the other children poke fun at them about that and they are conflicted themselves about it - with one parent saying not to do it and the other telling them it’s OK, if just by their actions.
Also, one parent votes in elections and the other doesn’t. I realize people deal with such dichotomies every day in many marriages, but if a child already has other problems, this might add to it. Just my opinion.
Boomer Sooner!
Let’s hope! I haven’t touched anything orange for the past week, my yearly ritual for good luck. Got on my Sooners skivvies and will be in full regalia before 2:30PM CDT!
GO BIG RED!
“Sounds like a family tree that definitely needs some pruning.”
Two sons with serious mental health issues is certainly a challenge for any parent. One lost to a bizarre suicide and this one sounds like a paranoid schizophrenic. I wonder about the other siblings. Might make an interesting case study for someone.
” Two sons with serious mental health issues is certainly a challenge for any parent. “
I remember some reports of interviews with the father in the aftermath of the OU attack — and don’t think Daddy was wound all that tight either.....
Judging by the name “Hinrichs” I was thinking perhaps he was a neo-nazi but I guess I was olny jumping to conclusions because his brother suceeded in doing a one man jihad.
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