Bomb Blast at University of Oklahoma (Breaking on Fox) - suicide bomber at OU

Fox News/NewsOK.com ^ | oct. 1, 2005

[blogblogginaway]

From Staff Reports
NORMAN -- An explosion near the University of Oklahoma's Gaylord Family-Memorial Stadium killed one person Saturday, OU officials said.

The explosion happened at the courtyard near the George Lynn Cross Hall, Botany-Microbiology Building on OU's campus, which is west of the stadium, according to Sgt. Gary Robinson of the University police department.

The explosion happened during the second quarter of Oklahoma's game against Kansas State.

After the explosion, police set up a perimeter of several blocks and made fans exit the stadium to the east.

[blogblogginaway]

Welcome to Freerepublic!. Thank you for the info. You should post more often!

[txhurl]

Let's prod Peach's memory: P, you remember an AQ threat regarding goal posts a year or so ago?

[Americanwolf]

drudge is notorious for not updating on weekend...

[PhiKapMom]

He does that a lot but from the guy behind us, he said Bob Barry never missed a beat which is actually unusual! :)

[Cindy]

Oh, thanks for the info txflake.

Well, let me see what I can find.

[Will_Zurmacht]

a prank would be letting the air out of the tires, or spray painting "We Suck" on the bus....

bombs are usually not funny.

still, what do I know, maybe it was the dumbest prank in the history of college football.

anyhow, my Wildcats got spanked, and nearly blown up, which doesn't auger well for the rest of the season...we should stick to playing creampuff teams...hehe

[Rte66]

Oh, I do hope to come up soon, but have had a bad couple of years. This is the longest time in 50+ years that I have not been on campus. It's sad and I miss it, terribly.

Besides, we don't have "fall" here and that's where my fall is always the best.

[Americanwolf]

Thanks for you onscene info... Eye/earwintess are usually the most accurate after the situation... once the media gets it, it becomes distort-o-rama.

[PhiKapMom]

OU is home to Sarkey's Energy Center -- most super computers outside the Government and has the world's best Petroleum Engineering School -- we have people come to OU from all over the world for Sarkey's and for the petroleum engineering school. A lot of Middle Eastern types around here but then we had Moussouri and Berg both here at OU.

[conservativepoet]

I agree. I don't think this was a prank.

[twntaipan]

IF this turns out to be a suicide bomber, I wonder if the intention was NOT to get in to the stadium, but mingle with the crowd when they were leaving (i.e.outside of any normal security cordons). A bomb in a crowd like that would cause much mayhem.

[indcons]

Article from Norman Transcript

Person killed following explosion at OU: Officials believe incident was suicide By James S. Tyree (Transcript Staff Writer)

An apparent suicide bombing on the University of Oklahoma campus Saturday evening killed at least one person.
According to a statement from OU President David Boren, a second explosive device was found and detonated. Initial reports had that occurring about 9:15 p.m.
The blast happened shortly after 7:30 p.m. on the South Oval, across the street from the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where more than 80,000 people were watching the OU-Kansas State football game. One person who responded to the scene said she heard the blast from four miles away.
We are apparently dealing with an individual suicide which is under full investigation, Boren said in the statement. At no time was anyone in the stadium in danger. Law enforcement officers and bomb experts on site were activated in the area immediately.
Boren said he ordered a search of the garage area near the stadium along with lower levels outside the stadium.
The entire South Oval was taped off, and many law enforcement officers were there to make sure no one entered the area. The suicide happened in or near the George Lynn Cross botany/microbiology building the oval's east side.
Damage to the microbiology building or any other structure couldn't be seen from the distant perimeter.
Sgt. Gary Robinson of OUPD confirmed one death, but gave no further details on the person or whether anyone else was injured. He said detectives were unable to investigate the scene right away because other personnel needed time to thoroughly sweep the area for additional explosive devices.
One fatality is all we know right now, he said.
Student Keaton Fuchs of the cable television station TV4OU had a video camera at the stadium's highest level. He turned toward the South Oval right after the explosion and saw a small amount of gray smoke rising from the botany/microbiology building.
Numerous public agencies were on the scene, including OU and Norman police, Cleveland County Sheriff's Office, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, state medical examiner's office, the FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Passouts normally are given to people who want to leave at halftime and come back, but they were not issued Saturday. Fans never were permitted to go on or near the South Oval, and after the game, which OU won 43-21, pedestrians weren't allowed to walk north on Asp Avenue beyond the stadium's southwest corner.
Six members of the Brothers Under Christ fraternity dressed in white T-shirts, each with a red spray-painted Superman and white capes couldn't walk a few dozen feet beyond the barriers to retrieve their bicycles at the stadium.
They decided to walk a mile back home and get their bikes today.
We heard so many rumors about this in the stadium said Preston White, a BUC sophomore from Tulsa majoring in chemical engineering. At first we thought it was thunder, then we heard propane and suicide bombing, just all sorts of rumors.

[PhiKapMom]

He is definitely not your typical Dem! In fact, a lot of the Dems here don't like him.

[KingKongCobra]

"Good question, my mind leans toward .."

Well, my mind is open to all possibilities. The last thing I want is a paper trail on the internet of me jusmping to some erroneous conclusion before there's any verifiable evidence. But, hey, that's just me.

[roses of sharon]

I'm curious about your comment on the timing of the blast, right before halftime, why are you suspicious?

[LibertyRocks]

The detonation of a second explosive device was reported on MSNBC, and several other smaller news outlets earlier in the evening... Several are linked to on this thread - back about 500 posts or so.

[BurbankKarl]

Transcript Staff Writer

An apparent suicide bombing on the University of Oklahoma campus Saturday evening killed at least one person.

According to a statement from OU President David Boren, a second explosive device was found and detonated. Initial reports had that occurring about 9:15 p.m.

The blast happened shortly after 7:30 p.m. on the South Oval, across the street from the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where more than 80,000 people were watching the OU-Kansas State football game. One person who responded to the scene said she heard the blast from four miles away.

“We are apparently dealing with an individual suicide which is under full investigation,” Boren said in the statement. “At no time was anyone in the stadium in danger. Law enforcement officers and bomb experts on site were activated in the area immediately.”

Boren said he ordered a search of the garage area near the stadium along with lower levels outside the stadium.

The entire South Oval was taped off, and many law enforcement officers were there to make sure no one entered the area. The suicide happened in or near the George Lynn Cross botany/microbiology building the oval’s east side.

Damage to the microbiology building or any other structure couldn’t be seen from the distant perimeter.

Sgt. Gary Robinson of OUPD confirmed one death, but gave no further details on the person or whether anyone else was injured. He said detectives were unable to investigate the scene right away because other personnel needed time to thoroughly sweep the area for additional explosive devices.

“One fatality is all we know right now,” he said.

Student Keaton Fuchs of the cable television station TV4OU had a video camera at the stadium’s highest level. He turned toward the South Oval right after the explosion and saw a small amount of gray smoke rising from the botany/microbiology building.

Numerous public agencies were on the scene, including OU and Norman police, Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, state medical examiner’s office, the FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Passouts normally are given to people who want to leave at halftime and come back, but they were not issued Saturday. Fans never were permitted to go on or near the South Oval, and after the game, which OU won 43-21, pedestrians weren’t allowed to walk north on Asp Avenue beyond the stadium’s southwest corner.

Six members of the Brothers Under Christ fraternity dressed in white T-shirts, each with a red spray-painted Superman “S” and white capes couldn’t walk a few dozen feet beyond the barriers to retrieve their bicycles at the stadium.

They decided to walk a mile back home and get their bikes today.

“We heard so many rumors about this in the stadium,” said Preston White, a BUC sophomore from Tulsa majoring in chemical engineering. “At first we thought it was thunder, then we heard propane and suicide bombing, just all sorts of rumors.


http://www.normantranscript.com/cnhi/thenormantranscript/homepage/local_story_275013811.html?keyword=leadpicturestory

[fatima]

Thank you Army Air Corps.

[Rte66]

Thank you for letting me know that was OK to quote. And thanks for the welcome.

[Americanwolf]

sounds like the cell phone companies acted in unison 3 areas all cells out is more then coincidence... it was a coordinated action for safety sake...(NOTE: Cell phone networks have several different layers to transmit as much traffic as possible...So the possibility of a mass congestion issue is probably, but for limited areas...we are looking and three areas far apart and one thing in common...large gatherings of people.. the really teller will be if we hear this occurring an other games this evening also aside from the three already stated here.)