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.

[darbymcgill]

Who would be in that area? Is that where the teams board their buses?

Most everything west of the stadium is high reserved parking and class rooms. There are usually many buses parked on the road west of the stadium. They could be teams buses or tour buses. If people were leaving at halftime for the reason I would leave, the closest pubs are out the east exits and north or south.

[VRWCmember]

He said he had forgotten it was in his bag.

Ah, the old Barry Switzer defense. Sorry pal, that doesn't fly in a post 9/11 world.

[fanfan]

Most everything west of the stadium is high reserved parking and class rooms. There are usually many buses parked on the road west of the stadium. They could be teams buses or tour buses.

Hmmm. No one would pay attention to people sitting around in an area like that. Not at half time, anyway.

[brytlea]

Americans have been quite amazingly (to me) patient and respectful of muslims, considering what at least some muslims do around the world, and have done here. I agree, at some point the pot will boil over. If anyone had told me that muslim extremists (or whatever) would knock down 2 large buildings in NYC, hit our Pentegon and kill roughly 3000 people in one fell swoop and we would suddenly be MORE tolerant and MORE accomodating of muslims in the US, I would have laughed in their face. I would have been wrong, it seems.
susie

[processing please hold]

If we have another 9-11, or God forbid, something worse...all gloves are off, and I think they know it. We won't have to do anything, there will be an exodus from the US of muslims never before seen.

[backhoe]

Didn't that guy who was beheaded have a link to Norman, OK, also?

Good question- assuming you meant Berg, here are links:

-The Berg Beheading- some links--

[Rte66]

You wrote:

"If the bench was destroyed where he was sitting, how was he attaching the bomb to a bus? Hmmmm. Nope. That ain't it.

It may have prematurely detonated, but my bet is that whoever (maybe him, maybe not) had expected some crowd outflux from the stadium at halftime and the crowd was late."
~~~~~

Here's what I'm noodling over this morning. First of all, the bench wasn't destroyed. It was removed by the FBI investigators and packaged for forensic examiners. People who have visited the scene say there are just bolts in the concrete where it was. There is an identical bench to it a few feet away, for comparison.

OK. Here is what I copied into my files from the OU Daily website yesterday, shortly after it was posted, around 5:30PM CDT:

~~~~~
UPDATE: 5:30 p.m. - The three buses parked in the South Oval from yesterday's bombing are now gone. OU Police have also left the scene. The only vehicle left from earlier today is a white limo, which was parked behind the three buses.

The South Oval has returned to normal, with people sitting around the fountains and walking freely in the areas blocked off Saturday following the detonation.

The only sign that a bombing occured is yellow tape surrounding the area where Joel Hinrichs, the 21-year-old engineering student, was killed. A bench also used to be here.
~~~~~~~~

In fact, a FReeper also posted that same info at
2,886 posted on 10/02/2005 5:59:35 PM CDT by BlackRain

However, on another blog, around 7:50PM CDT, a poster copied the OU Daily update from 5:30PM and it read like this--this is also how it is still published:

~~~~~~
" 5:30 p.m. — The three buses parked in the South Oval from yesterday's bombing are now gone. OU Police have also left the scene. The only vehicle left from earlier today is a white limo, which was parked behind the three buses.

The South Oval has returned to normal, with people sitting around the fountains and walking freely in the areas blocked off Saturday following the detonation.

The only sign that a bombing occurred is yellow tape and at least 50 matches surrounding the area where Joel Hinrichs, 21-year-old engineering student, was killed while sitting on a bench. The bench was removed this morning."
~~~~~~

So, we can perhaps assume that an OU Daily person had gone to the scene after the first writing and had observed those 50 matches.

Now my curiosity is piqued and I'm wondering if those are spent matches, already burnt, and if so, why weren't they gathered as evidence? If not, who left them there? Who was standing there long enough to light 50 matches? The FBI, looking at a blank spot? Do they do things like that, messing up a crime scene after the fact?

If they're not burnt, why are they there? And if they are burnt and were for some reason inadvertently left there, but ARE evidence, did Hinrichs sit there, lighting match after match trying to detonate a fuse of some type? What would this tell us about the type of bomb?

Last, I read this morning that his father said "hydrogen peroxide" was used. We don't know if this was true info given to him; misinfo given to him (since it sounds like the TATP combo that includes a type of peroxide, but not everyday household hydrogen peroxide); or his own interpretation of what was told to him.
Does this fit with a type of bomb that has a lightable fuse? And does this tell us anything useful?

[Eva]

Yeah, Nick Berg, that's the name. He had been a student at OU and was linked to Moussoui, by a computer that he had lent him.

Something strange is going on at OU.

[stevie_d_64]

Considering I did not hear a thing about this till about a half hour ago, tells you that this is still not getting the attention it needs...

People from all angles can debunk and difuse this as a punk kid who killed himself...

I'm not buying that...

I think he screwed up, obviously the things they found out about him and the physical evidence already described being found back at his apartment tell me that this was not going to be a one-time-deal...

A suicide could have been easily facilitated by other means that a bomb which had the potential to kill others...Statistics show most suicides are individual, or more contained, to achieve the attention they desire even in death...

His affiliations or literature found indicate a possible conversion to islam, something to be confirmed...If he frequented a mosque to pray at, then that may hold some weight...

The other bomb making material (a claim yet to be substanciated) obviously means he may have had intentions on making more explosive devices...He obviously was too stupid to get them ready to go for maximum effect on the public...One right after the other would have made his efforts more productive...

Maybe thats why he's dead now...Not enough thinking it through...

But then again the media and other pundits can play this down all they want...

Theres a lot of smart people here who see it for what it is...Regardless...

Pretty sad...Its taken only a few years, and an incident like this to get us right back into the lathargic attitudes most people had before 9-11...

Not that this was that big a deal, but for it not to be discussed at length outside this website...

The people who will benefit from this incident are already reaping the reward...

I will not be surprised at the next one...

[markman46]

bookmark

[backhoe]

Yeah, Nick Berg, that's the name. He had been a student at OU and was linked to Moussoui, by a computer that he had lent him. Something strange is going on at OU.

Now I remember- yes, it just gets weirder and weirder. No conclusions from me yet- not enough data.

[neutronsgalore]

"Another heartwarming thread about a little baby born at under two pounds."

Yeah, something I know all too well. Had a 1lb 14oz munchkin myself. 5 years old now and just started Kindergarten.

[unfortunately a bluestater]

You wrote:

"If we have another 9-11, or God forbid, something worse...all gloves are off, and I think they know it. We won't have to do anything, there will be an exodus from the US of muslims never before seen."

I agree with you. That is why I believe they will think long and hard before mounting an attack on our homeland again---particularly while we have a leader like Bush in office. However, this might not preclude them from trying to indoctrinate Americans to launch attacks against us on US soil---then they have deniability.

[Rte66]

I wanted to post some more bits and pieces about Hinrichs's bench.

First, I posted an observation from a SoonerFan forum member on Saturday night that proved prophetic as the facts unraveled:

" ... The driver of the bus parked just behind us (another of the three buses impounded) happened to be looking at the guy who was sitting on a bench outside the George Lynn Cross Botany building, which is RIGHT AT where our bus was. ...."

Then a number of articles were published that mentioned the bench as being where Hinrichs was seated. The Daily Oklahoman wrote:

" ... FBI investigators packaged and removed the bench where the bomber was seated when the explosives went off.

A scorched patch marred the sidewalk where the bench had been removed. ... "

Later, a local OKC person posted:

"On the news they showed the bench where that kid was sitting when he blew himself up.

Let em rephrase that. They showed the bolts in the concrete where the bench used to be where that kid was sitting when he blew himself up."

Asa Highsmith, an architecture senior at OU, may have been the closest person to the bombing. He estimated he was 20-30 yards away, saw black smoke, walked up to about 15 yards away and "could tell the guy was dead." He told the OU Daily that AFTER the explosion:

" ... “I couldn’t tell details but could see him sitting on the bench, and the buses nearby were intact,” he said. ... "

That seems to conflict with what another student, Drake Melson, said he saw:

" ... Drake Melson, University College freshman, said he went past a police barricade and saw a bomb robot near the bench where the bomb had detonated.
'What I saw from the video feed from the bomb robot was pretty graphic. Just imagine someone who was wearing pants and seeing nothing from the waist up. It was really disturbing,' he said. ... "

Others who have been to the crime scene described the bench as located on the south side of the front of Cross Hall, between it and Gould Hall, one of the journalism buildings. A winding sidewalk connects the buildings and the bench is near the end of the sidewalk, but close to the South Oval. The bench faces west towards the east side of the South Oval. There is an identical bench 10 feet north of the original one.

Several windows were shattered in the two buildings, one in Cross and more in Gould.

Others who have visited later said there were no marks at all on the sidewalk and some have described the bench as not being damaged, but they're obviously looking at the twin bench which is still there. (I post this for those who read such observations and wonder why the disparity in descriptions--two benches, one taken into evidence, one remaining.)

[BamaGirl]

Good points. My aversion to him being portrayed as the bad guy is the fact that they are trying to negatively correlate two characteristics I find admirable, which are (1) knowledge of weapons and (2) being a loner/marching to your own beat. Come on, this describes a lot of people here at FR!

And let me point out, (2) naturally leads to feelings of isolation. (Unless you have a place like FR.)

The point is that I feel as though we are being suckered into interpreting the qualities that make great soliders and patriots as negative instead of positive. Some kind of weird psychological warfare.

But then again, maybe my tin hat is on too tight!

(Ohhh, I'm supposed to take the hat off before I use it as a bird feeder... ;D)

[DC Bound]

"If we have another 9-11, or God forbid, something worse...all gloves are off, and I think they know it. We won't have to do anything, there will be an exodus from the US of muslims never before seen."

I agree with you. That is why I believe they will think long and hard before mounting an attack on our homeland again---particularly while we have a leader like Bush in office. However, this might not preclude them from trying to indoctrinate Americans to launch attacks against us on US soil---then they have deniability.

I disagree. Americans have demonstrated that they have bought the diversity and tolerance message. If 3,000 murdered Americans isn't enough to spark vigilantism, nothing shy of cutting kids' heads off at school and posting it on the internet is going to spark universal outrage in this country. The few who will lash out on their own will be quickly condemned and jailed. The muslims who are here to commit terror against us won't shrink from isolated cases of Americans striking back.

Think back to the rage felt on the left and the right on 9.12. We weren't conditioned to expect an attack on our homeland, yet there was only one vigilante attack--and that was mistakenly against a Sikh. Now we have been conditioned that another attack is inevitable. We expect to be hit again, and when it happens, we will attack ourselves rather than the enemy.

[processing please hold]

I'm sure the next one will be buried as well. It won't be until another few thousand Americans are murdered before it really gets out there. Thousands are too many to hide from the public. God help us.

[processing please hold]

However, this might not preclude them from trying to indoctrinate Americans to launch attacks against us on US soil---then they have deniability.

I agree. There are born Americans who hate our country as much as the islamofacists do. It's the enemy within.

[darbymcgill]

I just dispatched someone over there to have a first hand look. I will report back what is found. May even get some pics of the general area for perspective.