Cops: One dead at University of Oklahoma after explosion

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — University of Oklahoma police investigating a loud boom found one person dead outside a campus building and believe an explosive device was involved.
"It was an explosive device with one fatality," said Sgt. Gary Robinson of the OU police department.

Robinson didn't know the identity or gender of the person who was found dead outside the Botany-Microbiology building. He also didn't know if there were other injuries or if the building was occupied.

Law enforcement officers cordoned off an area west of a packed Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where the Oklahoma Sooners were playing Kansas State. Spectators reported hearing a loud boom just before the end of the first half, but no smoke or fire was seen.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-10-01-ou-blast_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

wasn't one of the 9-11 hijackers involved with OU in some way? something about a laptop computer, yada yada...i can't remember he details.

Gads, so many things to remember. Microbiology department. Why do my antenna go up at that?

I don't remember all the details either, but alot of weirdness involved, I remember that. Here's CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/05/13/berg.encounter/

Dear FBI Officials:

In the fall of 2001, a librarian at the University of Oklahoma library informed me that she was present when an FBI agent conducted an interview of library personnel in order to identify an employee of that facility who purchased an airline ticket for a 9/11 hijacker from a computer terminal there. She told me that he was not a hijacker. He was a white American male and he knew he was assisting the hijackers.

She said the ticket was for United Airlines flight 93. It is an interesting coincidence that the Moussaoui indictment reports the incidents of ticket-purchasing for only 14 of the 19 hijackers. For United 93 it only reports one of four.

Three different people have confirmed to me that they saw a TV news broadcast reporting this event by KOCO-TV of Oklahoma City. In October 2003 I called KOCO and requested a copy of the videocassette of this broadcast. An employee at the news desk named Melissa confirmed to me that the station had made the broadcast. She then told me that I would have to speak to the reporter, Terri Watkins, in order to purchase a videocassette.

I left a message on Watkins’ voice mail and requested it. To my surprise she returned the call with a message on my answering machine and denied that the station had reported this event. I am quite confident that this was a lie and a cover-up.
http://www.jerrypippin.com/Wright_OP.htm

Lots of interesting OU tin foil stuff at that site. I cannot vouch for any of its authenticity, but I know I have read about the purchase of the plane ticket elsewhere. That was just the first thing that popped up when I googled.

He seems to have a personal vendetta against boren in particular. There have long been rumors in OK that Boren is gay, but if I'm not mistaken, wright has basically accused Boren of adopting/cultivating groups of young male students, turning them into both campus leaders and his gay lovers. He calls them Boren's "favorites." Wright isn't as well-known now as he was about 10-12 years ago, when he made headlines by getting a federal grant for his research demonstrating it was "impossible" for males to get HIV from females.

I remember fairly recently he went on a tirade about this statue, one of the newest on campus (and a personal favorite of mine), which Wright finds overwhelmingly homoerotic:



All this is not to say the story you quote in your post isn't accurate, but those who've still heard of him around the university tend to take everything he says with a grain of salt :)

It seems I also recall reading that a lot of CIA agents get recruited from OU. Do you have any knowledge of that?

Michael Wright is right about that. He was chair of the Senate Intel committe while still in Congress and a mentor to Tenet. Several years ago, he organized a major foreign-policy conference to take place on OU's campus, something that was covered on C-Span and featured high-level CIA administrators, not just ambassadors. I don't know anything about numbers of agents, but the CIA was definitely on campus and recruiting.

http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/04/43435177ec96e

OU President David L. Boren announced Tuesday that OU will suspend the stadium pass-out policy for football games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium for the rest of the season.

To further tighten security, officials will conduct more thorough searches of bags that fans bring inside the stadium and officials will screen vehicles parked outside the stadium more closely, Boren announced in a press conference.

The pass-out policy allowed fans to return to the stadium after leaving at halftime.

Boren confirmed that law enforcement officials found dangerous materials inside Hinrich’s residence at Parkview Apartments and that they were detonated at a Norman Police Department firing range Sunday night. Boren said he has not held anything back from the media or the students, and there are very few details he has discussed with the FBI that haven’t been made public.


School newspaper's editorial on the changes:

http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/05/43433fa3e6ef8

To deter people from blowing up Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, the pass-out policy for halftimes of home football games will be repealed for the remainder of this season. The question looms: Why?

Is it because there is a substantial threat to OU, contrary to what OU President David L. Boren has been saying since Saturday’s incident?

The FBI may not feel it has moved far enough in its investigation to release whatever new information it has learned regarding intent and threat levels. We hope, and have no reason not to believe, that the FBI will release its report and statements as soon as it is deemed appropriate.

But the multiple groups (OU administrators, local law enforcement and the FBI) involved in figuring out what happened, what could have happened, what may happen in the future and what safety changes ought to be made can’t seem to find their ways to the same ballpark on the same night.

Here it is:

I observe that one of the posts ridicules me as an "eccentric homophobe" and slanders me.
He's probably on Boren's payroll. One of their common tactics is to accuse me of having a
"personal vendetta" against Boren. Actually I have never had anything to do with the creep.
My evidence against Boren, regarding his PREDATORY homosexual behavior, is that he (1) is
guilty of male-on-male sexual harassment, and (2) is guilty of wasting millions of dollars, over
the years, putting favored young men on public payrolls. One of his "picks" was George Tenet.

If it's "eccentric" to denounce sexual harassment when it's male-on-male, then I guess I'll
just have to confess to being eccentric.

Do progressives approve of George Tenet? People who are truly progressive would not denounce
my concerns as "homophobic." The reality in Oklahoma is that Boren has many friends who have infliltrated the progressive camp, and who front for him. Boren is actually as right-wing as Attila
the Hun and always has been. They use the whip of threatening to call anyone a "homophobe"
who speaks up against Boren's predatory misconduct. They bludgeon cowards into silence with
this, and Boren is enabled to continue unimpeded down his destructive path.

I would appreciate it if you would post this link:

http://members.aol.com/mpwright9/boren1.html

Invite anyone to read it and come up with the necessary evidence to contradict my conclusion.
Logically, anyone challenging me has to be able to prove that gay author Michelangelo Signorile
is a liar, or find another Senator or former Senator who matches the profile of "the legislator." He
should be willing to make his accusations public, and sign his name to it, and be prepared to be
sued for libel if they are wrong. I have had my accusations against Boren online for five years, and
he's never sued me. Know why? Because Boren, of all people, knows they are TRUE.

The Boren friend also accuses me of going on a "tirade" against the obviously homoerotic statue,
picked by Boren. I have commented about this at my website, and circulated an email about it to
a few correspondents. Boren's weird tastes in "art" are exhibited in numerous places around the
OU campus. He adores statues of bare-chested muscular men, while his statues of women are
completely desexualized. He is welcome to decorate his own home according to his queer tastes.
Cluttering up a public facility with his trash is quite another matter. Maybe a Boren spook has
infiltrated my email list. Go here for more samples of Boren's tastes in "art":

http://journals.aol.com/mpwright9/michael1

The "homophobe" accusation is nothing more than a tactic to distract attention away from
the enormous reality of Boren's history of deep corruption.

The individual is lying when he claims I got a federal grant "for his research demonstrating it was 'impossible' for males to get HIV from females. " I received four federal health research grants in the 90s, and this was not my mission under the grants. One of them is listed at this National Cancer Institute website. Scroll down to my name:

http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/brp/research_archive.asp?start=401&count=100




Cher

You post stuff on the internet, people are going to form opinions about you. And I don't see where fishwax said anything particularly pro-Boren or anti-Wright. The caution to take it with a grain of salt is good advice for anything you see on the internet, including DU.

I don't know anything about the guy, other than what I've read of his website and heard of him in discussion among Normanites when I lived there. It appears someone else passed my comments along to him, so he's probably responding to my comments once removed, which I suppose (hope?) explains some of the horrible leaps of logic he takes in that text. (Both small things like responding to "eccentric homophobe" rather than "eccentric/homophobe," as well as the seemingly baseless label that I'm a "Boren friend." Oh well :shrug:

Actually, it says he has a reputation as an "eccentric/homophobe," which is clearly not the same as an "eccentric homophobe." But that aside, I was stating what I knew of his reputation. His web site had been posted as potentially shoring up emerging conspiracy theories about the explosion at the football game, and I mentioned what I knew about the guy and his work. Is he eccentric? Well, check out his website--as tanyev said in posting his link, there's a lot of OU tinfoil on there--I guess DUers can determine for themselves if it strikes them as eccentric.

Personally, I find the full-frontal assault on boom cars (it's noise torture--Michael Wright is the self-proclaimed "man the boom car boys love to hate") to be eccentric. I also don't necessarily see eccentricity as a bad thing. One of the things that makes Norman (which Wright calls "noise hell") great is its eccentrics. There is the local businessman and occasional candidate for public office (improbably named E.Z. Million) who has made it his life work to have the OU-Texas football game moved from neutral Dallas to a home-and-home series. There is an occasional law student/candidate/copy shop worker who has sued Boren and OU over the years for various infractions (like not allowing him to take his dog on the bus). There is (or used to be) a highly entertaining libertarian who set up a shadow student government back in the 90s, and was later arrested for bursting into the president's office and painting a small dot on the wall with a can of black spray paint. I too have my eccentricities, and rather enjoy them.

Is Michael Wright a homophobe? I think his writings about the statue I posted above and his focus on Boren's sexuality are indicative of homophobia.



:eyes: Yes, Mr. Wright, anyone who doesn't agree with you that "pastoral dreamer" (see photo above) is homoerotic must be on the Boren payroll.

I didn't make any claim to the validity of his evidence in my original post, and frankly I don't have time/energy to read and understand all of Wright's arguments about Boren's "predatory" behavior. I've read some of it in the past, and it struck me that his conclusions (that Boren is constantly seducing young college males and then advancing their careers, and that pretty much all of the changes at OU in Boren's administration are a result of his lust for young flesh) is pretty ambitious based on the only real solid evidence that he offers--that Boren bears a biographical resemblance to a closeted legislator whose staff had described sexual haarrassment in the book Queer in America and that another gay writer acknowledged Boren was gay and mentioned rumors of "problems" with House Pages when Boren was governor.

Boren may be the senator in question, of course, but that doesn't mean that (a) the reports of sexual harrassment were accurate or that (b) they were indicative of a pattern of behavior or that (c) Boren has systematically seduced/abused/harassed young college students hoping to enter student leadership positions at the university of oklahoma.



It appears I was wrong about his earlier research, though the error was not intentional. He concluded based on his research (funded by a Small Business Innovation grant) that

"From this research, I concluded that there was absolutely no reason to fear a heterosexual HIV epidemic sustained by the practice of vaginal sex in the United States. "

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronic...

My memory of an article in the school paper several years ago about his work was apparently distorted, and I regret the error. Still, I think the spirit of my characterization was on target, and his research did demonstrate (to him, anyway) that males couldn't get HIV from females (at least not through vaginal intercourse).

In post 70 (above), I said:




Michael Wright responded:



I unintentionally mischaracterized his AIDS research. He didn't get his grant to prove the it was impossible for males to get HIV from females. Instead, based on his federally funded research (funded by the Small Business Innovation Research program of the U.S. National Cancer Institute) he came to the conclusion that (as he said in the San Francisco Chronicle):

"From this research, I concluded that there was absolutely no reason to fear a heterosexual HIV epidemic sustained by the practice of vaginal sex in the United States. "

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/05/24/ED82697.DTL

My memory of an article in the school paper several years ago about his work was apparently distorted, and I regret the error. Still, I think the spirit of my characterization was on target, and his research did demonstrate (to him, anyway) that males couldn't get HIV from females (at least not through vaginal intercourse).

I don't know if it's true or not, but based on personal experience, it sounds plausible.

See, lately (for the past year or so), I've been dealing a lot with criminals who use other people's e-mail accounts in order to communicate.

"Relying on Berg's father, CNN accounted for Berg's information being on Moussaoui's computer by reporting that when Berg was attending the University of Oklahoma, during a bus ride he allowed a stranger to use his email. The stranger, they said, turned out to be one of Moussaoui's associates, and gave him Berg's email account and password.

This story is not credible. Nicholas Berg was enrolled at the University of Oklahoma only for the fall semester of 1999. According to his indictment, Moussaoui did not arrive in Norman, Oklahoma, until February 2001. An FBI affidavit confirms that Moussaoui was using free anonymous hotmail accounts, and therefore did not have the motive to steal anyone's password. See the May 26 and May 28 entries for links to these documents.



Welll....a hotmail account may be superficially 'anonymous', but it really isn't.

If you're a terrorist or some other type of criminal, it's far better to steal someone else's internet identity, account and all.

This type of activity has been rampant lately - I don't know how aware people are of it. I was on one board where some 'right-wingers' stole all of the passwords and were impersonating the regulars in an attempt to sow discord and isolate certain targets of theirs.

It's kind of naive to think that just because someone had an 'anonymous' hotmail account, they wouldn't steal someone else's password. I mean, if you're a terrorist, you already know the FBI and other authorities might have you profiled.

How naive do they think we are?

Also...the use of computers at a library - very possible, but more likely if someone actually obtains the keys to the library and uses staff terminals and e-mail - it's a much better way of covering one's tracks. But it's entirely plausible, 'cos it's happened in a few other places.

:wtf:

but some kid from Oklahoma was given probation a few months ago for building pipebombs. Don't know if it was anywhere near Norman. I remember reading the story here on DU.

where the university is, in addition to the laptop connection.

Man, Moussaui gets around more than Kevin Bacon.

or are you being sarcastic?
(sorry for the dumb question)

at the flight school in Eagan where Moussaui trained, and even got in trouble for giving Moussaui access to a proprietary disk. A hadn't known about the connection to Nick Berg loaning him a computer. Moussaui got around.

Link to a copy of an AP story on it:
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/linkscopy/PWcopilot.html

:scared:

Not really a conspiracy theory, just one of those possibilities you wonder about. The copilot, Michael Guess, called his mother just before the flight. He told her, according to her (and this was published in mainstream papers) "I love you, Mom. Remember that, no matter what happens." She said this to a reporter, and then she added "And that's all I'm saying about it." It sounded like she thought something was up.

So throw in the old suicide/mafia scenario. Michael Guess gets a quick visit from a couple of guys. They throw down a picture of his mother, and a couple of other family members, at their houses. They say "If your plane lands, all of these people die. And then you die. Obviously, if you tell anyone, you die, and we have enough people to make sure no one believes you anyway."

I had a friend who was busted for laundering money for an organized crime mob. He ran a business that they used, so he wasn't really part of the mob, but he was guilty of doing business with them. Anyway, he had served his time, and he worked with me doing something else. He had this usual schtick of adding "But I can't talk about that" to the end of a statement, as a joke. "You'd be surprised what you can do with chopsticks...But I can't talk about that." or "I used to work for the CIA, but I can't talk about that." You always knew he was joking when he said these thinks.

So one evening at work we were chatting about political assassinations. I mentioned that I thought Oswald shot JFK, and he agreed. He said something like "When they want to assassinate someone, they do it so no one knows. Like this one Congressman who was investigating drug smuggling, and he was getting too close. So they kidnapped the family of his pilot and told the pilot "If you don't crash this plane with the Congressman in it, your whole family dies." So he crashed the plane." He had started talking, not really paying attention to his own story, until I interrupted. "You mean Larkin Smith?" He was Congressman in my old district in Gulfport, and was a lesser known Rep who had died during his first or second term.

My friend had been carried away with his story, and we were working, so he wasn't focused on it, but as soon as I said the name his head snapped up like someone threw water on him. His eyes widened, and he literally went pale, and he stared at me, like he hadn't expected me to know that. "How do you know that?" I asked, doubting him. "I really can't talk about that," he said, and he had the most serious look I'd ever seen him have.

Anyway, he was probably full of it, but it was strange crash. Witnesses said the plane had dipped during takeoff, and then recovered, and the pilot hadn't said anything about it to the control tower (there may not have been one, it was a small airport). Later he crashed into some trees near the landing airport, and last I heard, they had no idea why. They blamed it on pilot error. This Congressman had taken over Trent Lott's district when Lott became Senator. He had become a local celebrity by busting his sheriff (he was the deputy sheriff) for drug smuggling. he had reported the sheriff, and there was a big FBI sting that caught him as he was greeting a plane that had landed full of drugs just north of Bay St. Louis. Big story where I was at the time. Later, conspiracy folk linked this airfield and the old sheriff, and thus Larken Smith to the whole Mena, Arkansas, CIA drug smuggling theory. And it was drug mob that my friend had been busted with.

I still think he was full of it, though I keep that theory open. I keep the same theory about Wellstone open. The crash makes no sense, even the way the FAA reports it. I believe that Carnahan's crash, and JFK Jr' crash, were just crashes. And I believe tha Oswald shot JFK, and I don't believe Sirhan was programmed by CIA hypnotists. I don't believe in many conspiracies. But I have my doubts about Wellstone's crash. And Smith's. I knew Smith's story before the crash, and everyone always suspected someone would get him because of what he was doing. So the crash seemed more mysterious.

Anyway, lots of rambling. It's early on a Sunday. I shouldn't write before breakfast because I can't stop writing! Sorry.

Plane crashes, car crashes, fires...you name it.

Sound 'paranoid' - get REAL. If you were a criminal, wouldn't you try to find the least obvious ways of bumping someone off? You wouldn't get a gun and blow someone's head off, unless you had a huge chip on your shoulder and were as egotistical as Oswald. No - you'd mess with their car, etc.

It's just logic, people - but the media expect us to believe it's 'crazy'.

It's time to just ignore their 'explanations' and rely...not on conspiracy, but good old street smarts and common sense.

I don't really think there is a connection though.

Maybe not tin foil hat time yet, but have to wonder...

Significant number of foreign national students attracted to the Geosciences and Engineering schools. Used to be a lot of Iranians in the Nuclear Engr. program there in the 70s. Had many anti-Shah demos at the time and OU banned wearing masks to them (the protesters were afraid of the Iranian secret police getting their pics).

The mention of other explosives and the timing is troubling too. As some others have mentioned, at half time, the area to the SE of the stadium is packed. Doesn't the MO for suicide bombers include picking busy places? Wouldn't someone wanting to show the ability to strike at the heart of America pick something as public as a football game? And the fact that it would be nearly dark at the time would just add to confusion and panic.

Okla and K State, involves the two states linked in 95 with the OKC bombing. Still lots of random militia groups around the area and don't discount the value this misAdministration places on misdirection.

i've been watching the game (did my undergrad at OU, and just moved from norman recently) and heard about the bomb on a sooner fan message board. :( Rumor on those boards is that it was a suicide ...

How many people kill themselves with a bomb?

Very weird situation indeed.

I don't know ... I imagine there are rumors running rampant around the stadium right now ...

That seems a bit over the top to me, too. Either someone blew him up, or he was intending to blow up a bunch of people and screwed up (and where better than a packed stadium to do that sort of thing)--those would be my FIRST thoughts....

But I have no background knowledge, so I am simply wondering...

Any verification of this?

According to my Sooner message board, they announced on the PA that people should avoid the South Oval and all areas West of the stadium when leaving.

away from where the building is. My daughter is on the east side fortunately, so it won't inconvenience her much.

David Boren (former chair of Senate Intel Committe ... is that what you're getting at?)

I couldn't remember. Old timer's disease.

b/c of the uncanny resemblance.

So how's his "Broom Brigade" going these days? Has he cleaned things up yet?

The Botany/Micro building is directly across the street from the stadium. Just west of the stadium is a four-story parking garage, that bumps up against the street, and the Bot/Micro bldg is just across that street.

Reports I've heard are that the explosion was just west of the microbiology bldg, meaning it was probably about 30-40 yards from the stadium.

According to a message board I follow games on, they have asked fans to avoid the areas west of the stadium.

Do you (or anyone else) know what they do at the bio lab?

----
edit:

found this. http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/

I had an econ class and a botany class in the building. There was a large greenhouse attached, and I know of some research with respect to plant breeding, but I'm not aware of any real hot-button research there, which doesn't mean there wasn't any such thing going on.

As jobycom and others have mentioned, the location could be a result of premature detonation. Since the explosion apparently occurred late in the 2nd quarter, and OU fans often leave the stadium for halftime to grab a beer in a parking lot opposite the SE corner of the stadium, it seems plausible that the bomber could have been on his way there when the bomb blew up.

Thanks for the reply.

I was just wondering if the guy might have been headed for the bio labs, since I didn't know what's done there.

NORMAN, Okla. -- One person was killed in an explosion in a traffic circle about 100 yards from a packed football stadium at the University of Oklahoma on Saturday night in what authorities were calling a suicide.

"We are apparently dealing with an individual suicide, which is under full investigation," OU President David Boren said in a statement.

The loud noise of the explosion could be heard inside Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where 84,000 people were watching the Oklahoma Sooners play Kansas State.

http://www.wesh.com/news/5046390/detail.html
--------------------------------------------------

A suicide that decides to blow himself up in a car 100 yards from a packed football stadum. WTF

I thought they were all in Iraq. :sarcasm:

"A police bomb squad detonated explosives found at the site of the blast."

fight um here. Bu$h.....you are a god damn pathetic moron pile of shit!

Early reports are an individual suicide. But I agree with your assessment of bush ;)

A police bomb squad detonated explosives found at the site of the blast.
http://www.wesh.com/news/5046390/detail.html

A suicide bomber would be an individual suicide. The police could say that without lying.

Probably nothing, but the idea of someone blowing themselves up and leaving extra explosives less than a hundred yards from a crowded stadium just has disturbing undertones.

Someone intent on destruction could easily go to a bar/bookstore/restaurant parking lot that is located on the SE corner of the stadium. That parking lot has hundreds/thousands of people hanging out, drinking beer, watching and listening to the game, and gets VERY crowded at halftime.

Where the bomb apparently went off is a part of campus that (while very close to the stadium) would have been virtually empty at the time of the blast.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but knowing the area as I do it seems a supremely illogical place for a "suicide bombing."

Maybe he was heading to one of your more populated spots and sweated wrong on two wires.

Just speculating. No way to know yet. It could be either.

was then going to head to where the people were, but didn't make it there due to premature detonation.

that I can attest to. There's so very little traffic there even during the day, mostly pedestrians and some shuttle/bus service and campus maintenance.

where one bomb went off and another was set (and did go off) when rescue workers arrived. The multiple explosives doesn't seem right if he was just trying to commit suicide.

I graduated from high school in OKC and I'm not that familiar with Norman any more. Last time I was there it was about seven years ago for my brother's wedding and Norman had almost merged with Moore. It had grown considerably since my days of cruising Lindsey Ave.

And then, mingling in the departing throngs, intended to detonate the device, but screwed up and blew himself up too soon?

the explosion apparently took place late in the 2nd quarter--it's a tradition at the stadium for many of the fans to leave the stadium at halftime and go to the aforementioned parking lot to buy/drink beer before returning for the second half. That would be a prime time and place for being around a lot of people.

with shooting himself twice in the head.
:sarcasm:

I don't get what you're implying ...

himself up. Suicide bombers try to take other people with them. Who is going to do it to himself only?

Who knows? You can't predict what everyone in the world will do based only on how strange it is.

to his disposal. Why blow himself up? And how would they even know he suicided himself at this moment of time?
They didn't even have any time for an investigation.

? There was a guy in west Texas who drove his car up on a cliff, put a shotgun in his mouth, and drank a poison. He then floored it and while in midair shot himself.

Who knows? Killing yourself isn't normal, so doing it creatively or dramatically is hardly a stretch.

It could be more, or it could be just a suicide. The manner of death doesn't say anything, yet, with the little bit we have on it.

was DEFINITELY not terrorism. They're psychic.

:sarcasm:

The chem classes are in the Physical Sciences bldg not far off the North Oval, about a quarter mile from the explosion location.

(I get your inference now ... I can be a little thick :))

Anyway, the idea of blowing oneself up as a suicide method seems odd, but not entirely unheard of ...

being familiar with the stadium setup, it seems unlikely to me that this would have been a suicide bomber situation, because if one wanted to inflict terror/pain/damage one could easily get under the parking garage just west of the stadium and around a lot more people without really facing any additional security.

Also, on the Southeast side of the stadium there is a bar/bookstore/restaurant parking lot where there would have been hundreds/thousands of people gathered drinking beer and listening to the game, that would have been a much more populated place for someone intent on destruction to hang out. The place where the explosion actually apparently occurred would have been pretty much empty during game time.

I just don't want to jump to conclusions. On the OU Message Board thread (http://mb12.scout.com/fouinsiderfrm1.showMessageRange?topicID=112906.topic&start=41&stop=60) There is some speculation that the victim detonated the device while bending over it, and the unexploded device was in his backpack, shielded from the blast. There's a lot of speculation at this point, of course. I had friends at the game and friends who work around the stadium, but I haven't been able to get through to them to find out what they might know ...

both conclusions so far. :-)

Just, you know, a bomb in Oklahoma. A bomb detonated near a major sporting event. It has so many resonances of Tim McVeigh, or Eric Rudolph, or even a foreign terrorist bomber. I imagine if it was a regular suicide, the poor victim was trying to create some such reaction.

and it definitely is a possibility--way too early to rule it out. Arguing against both conclusions is probably the right approach at this point :)

likes weapons and explosions and wanted to make a dramatic exit. Just outside a sports stadium would be perfect--a large audience to see your big boom and remember you for eternity.

Let's just see.

Maybe he's trying to say something.

It's been done before...people strapping explosives to themselves, etc.

Why wouldn't they?

I'm guessing it means, "I'm guilty, but I'd rather die than turn myself in."

trying to figure out what this is.

I went to OU and lived in Norman for the last 12+ years. Just moved out of town two months ago, but I had friends at the game and working nearby (the Subway on Jenkins and Lindsey). It's awfully weird. I can't quite capture how I feel about this thing. :(

from the Microbiology/Botany building. My building (where my office is) is Gittinger. They're saying it's a suicide, but why have TWO devices for a suicide?

Is this a "terraist" bombing gone wrong? I wonder if it is, and if they're quickly putting out the "individual suicide" story for more sinister reasons?

Too weird! I start work tomorrow for the student paper, and I'll see if I can find out more. I've got friends w/season tickets so I'll ask them to tell me everything they know.

I just graduated with an English degree :) Are you a grad student?

Incidentally, I got my first OU degree in journalism in in the mid/late 90s. At that time, there were always rumors in the J-school (before it was it's own college) that Boren went to some lengths to suppress/underreport campus crime rates, so as not to give the university a black eye. (This was kind of a "holy grail" story for j-school types.) I've got to admit, I started thinking of those rumors when the immediate "individual suicide" dismissals of this event popped up so quickly.

and GTA. Interestingly enough, I'm working on starting a second MA in journalism after I finish my MA in English this coming spring. Small world, and all that, heh?

I hadn't heard that about Boren. I actually have kind of bragged about his responsiveness to student concerns to others...but this is such a totally different situation. We'll have to see what kind of coverage this gets, but the fact that they're so quickly saying it's NOT terrorism is really, really suspicious, don't you think? I mean, how could they know already?

You didn't happen to take a Chaucer class with Ransom or a Issues in Cultural Studies class with Leitch recently, did you? (Just curious b/c these are the only classes I had recently where I knew of grad students present ...)

I'm not sure how much of the Boren stuff was just rampant rumor or hopeful speculation, but it was definitely something I came across more than once.

I did see that the updated Daily Jokelahoman story at least mentioned the possibility of terrorism ...



http://www.newsok.com/article/1631436/?template=sports/ou

OMG! I was the blonde girl who wrote a paper about Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Remember, we had to go around the room and talk about our paper topics? I have such a terrible short-term memory, but how might I remember who you were? I sat along the wall under the windows.

I remember your paper topic about Queer Eye. I don't know if you'll remember me or not, but I was one of the few undergrads who did a research paper instead of the test option. My paper was about the postmodern road narrative (looking at the road narrative through the novel Powwow Highway--i later gave one of the other grad students from the class, aaron cerna (sp?) a copy of the film for the film library--and discussing postcolonial/minority/feminist readings of the myth of the open road). I sat in the second row from the door, all the way at the back (long hair, goatee/beard). Don't know if that rings any bells, but if not that's okay. It's still cool to find such a coincidence :D

(edited--repeatedly--for punctuation)

but I can't remember your face or anything. Were you the one who always wore the political t-shirts? There was one that was something like "I am more than a consumer." Whether or not that was you, I remember thinking about what a cool topic that was. Oh, and you're talking about Cerny--he's a fellow grad student who's really interested in film. He's an okay guy, though he can lean towards the pretentious and will likely be VERY ivory-towerish! heh heh.

I'm totally being such a nerd about this, but it's making me absurdly happy to find that I actually sat in a classroom with a fellow DUer!

:D

I wasn't one with the political t-shirts (mostly b/c I came to class right after working down at the College of Continuing Ed, where such political statements wouldn't fly ;)) ... I also think it's cool having sat in class with a fellow DUer ... I remember going to class on election day, and everyone (well, all you grad students and a couple of us undergrads) were talking about preliminary reports, and I was going to mention the DU at that point to let people know about it (having been surreptitiously scouring the DU all day at work ;)), but anyway the subject of the conversation veered and then Leitch came in and I didn't get the chance to mention it. I'm glad you found it anyway :)

I remember Aaron and his film interest because he did a guest lecture bit in my film class the next semester when Joanna Rapf was out of town for one class. The ivory tower bit struck me too, but that's okay--i'm doing my grad work at u of illinois now, so i'll probably wind up pretty ivory-towerish myself ;) (or else just entirely flakey, but I try to keep somewhat grounded :)

:hi:

feeling like something is really bothering you but being unable to get your arms around it, or define it. A mixture of fear, relief, a touch of sadness, and a bit of the flight-or-fight syndrome, wondering if this is something bigger. Messes up your mind and your emotions a bit. Don't fight it, but don't let it work you into a panic attack or a depression. You have to work through it.

Just my two cents. It's probably worthless. It sounds more dramatic when I write it then when I think it. :-)

and it's been part of my thinking too, the whole letting it work through thing. I think a big part of it is still the strong connection to norman (and even the campus itself) as home/hometown and (despite the proximity of the OKC bombing) the general feeling that, even when packed with drunken/angry/jubilant football fans it was an overwhelmingly safe place to be :)

Yeah, it does sound much more dramatic written than thought, but that's cool. And thanks for helping solidify it in words :)

A guy interviewed locally. The anchor was asking about what people at the stadium heard, and he was saying that they definitely recognized that it wasn't like the RUF-NEKs' cannon explosions and everyone around him in the upper decks were wondering, "what WAS that" and were concerned, and that all the cops left, and that's when they realized something was indeed really wrong. Then after the game they initially weren't letting people leave, saying they didn't know what was going on.

I'm currently on an OU message board, reading that the explosion was "really really really loud" and that people felt it from blocks away.

I think. This evening I thought I heard thunder, and I was kind of surprised because I wasn't expecting storms, but after last night's thunderstorms (and OK's weather generally) it didn't freak me out or anything remarkable. But even my dogs were looking around. I didn't notice the time since it seemed like no big deal, but it was earlier this evening and it was the only "thunder" I heard. And I live exactly 9.6 miles away, driving distance.

The freepers are going out of their damn minds with a 1500 post thread and only 68 Posts on this story here at DU...........strange

they didn't have much information about it, though ...

http://www.ou.edu/
http://webapps.ou.edu/DLB_Statement_2.pdf

quote:
The second explosion was the bomb squad making sure that there was not a second device.

:wtf: is that standard? I don't know much (okay, anything) about SOP for bomb squads. Does anyone else know if this is normal/accurate.

Tinfoil Hatters: Feel free to look into Boren's intel connections if you're looking for signs of a coverup.

You don't blow yourself up with a bomb unless you want to call attention to something....

Just because I think this is weird, and I'd like some more background on this person.

Why did he want so much attention for his suicide, for starters? You don't blow yourself up near a crowded football stadium for nothing.....

A University of Oklahoma student died in an explosion Saturday night near a stadium packed with 84,000 people. Although the investigation is not complete, the medical examiner believes Joel Henry Hinrichs III, 21, of Colorado Springs, Colo., perished in the blast, said Salvador Hernandez, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oklahoma .

Hinrichs died about 8 p.m. when an explosive detonated near the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

According to the university’s Web site, Hinrichs was a junior in the college of engineering.

There were no reports of any other injuries and university officials have said the spectators at the game were in no danger at any time.

Initially, police believed there were two explosives -- the one that detonated and another that didn't -- but a later search found no other device.

University President David Boren said a police bomb squad did detonate an item found at the blast site to ensure that it was not an explosive

Thanks for the update Fluffdaddy ... According to the Oklahoma Daily, they evacuated the apartment building he lived in, putting the residents up in hotels. One of the apartment buildings is one I moved out of about 15 months ago. Weird.

http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/02/433f3c43d0f24

I am not too convinced that this is credible, but have never been to the site before. Someone else pointed it out to me along with the article.

By: Sorcha Faal

Russian Intelligence sources are reporting today that a United States Senator, Jim Inhofe, was rescued by secret US Army Military Forces after an assassination attempt was made on his life and which ended in the attackers being killed by what these reports describe as a 'guided munitions missile' fired from an Apache Attack helicopter, and which destroyed the attackers in their vehicle in their escape attempt.

<snip>

Of the attempted assassination bombing of Senator Inhofe these reports state that prior to his entering the sporting arena his security detail discovered a bomb set to go off when triggered by remote control. Upon their discovery of this bomb Senator Inhofe and his body guards were attempting to flee but were then fired upon by an ‘unspecified’ rocket type weapon whereupon US Army Special Forces attacked the assassins by firing a missile into their vehicle from an Apace helicopter.

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index832.htm

Pretty incredible story...and I think it is just that.

Fun link, I learned that magical Children of Winter will help Russia to lead the World by 2012!

yay for snowflake babies! :)

I don't give this article much credence. It is interesting and would make a great movie.

It was fun read though :) I am one of those people who like to read Russian news sources because of the lack of restraint.

I guess when they threw out the KGB editors at the newspapers, they failed to hire any actual editors. :)

Interesting. Since he's the IIIrd, I can't tell if it's his grandfather or father or himself who applied for this patent. This one right here.

Interesting, I guess.

PB

That's interesting. The nexus of fundie and military interaction.

http://www.fanblogs.com/oklahoma/005847.php

While the father of a man who committed suicide outside the Oklahoma football game says that his son wasn't politically motivated, more reports are coming out that and it seems there was more to Joel Henry Hinrichs III than meets the eye.

Oklahoma News 9 is reporting that Hinrichs began attending the same Norman mosque once attended by convicted 9-11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

After the bombing, police checked the apartment Hinrichs shared with a Pakistani student who works in the Oklahoma athletic department. Officials found a very large cache of explosive material and also reportedly found "jihad literature" as well.

The FBI, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents and Norman police’s bomb squad were removing the material Sunday evening.

Police were overheard telling residents it would take “several trips and could take up to 24 hours” to remove it all.

More at link

news reported last night and this morning that this guy recently (a few days before bombing)attempted to buy ammonium nitrate-based fertilizer from a local feed store. The store employee was suspicious and sent Hinrichs away; a cop in plainsclothes was in the store at the time and noted Hinrichs' tag number.

Also, local news reports that Hinrichs's Pakistanti roommate was briefly held and questioned but has been released.

http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/5060237/detail.html

Furthermore, TATP, a bombmaking ingredient also used by the "shoebomber" was one of the components of Hinrichs' bomb:

"NORMAN, Okla. -- Sources confirmed Tuesday night that at least one of the components in the bomb used by Joel Henry Hinrichs III Saturday night was a product called TATP.

Technically, TATP is triacetone triperoxide. However, it's called the 'Mother of Satan' by Islamist extremists. Experts say it is made by mixing common household items such as drain cleaner and bleach to create a white powder with a strong smell.

It's so volatile that it can explode even if it's merely dropped. It can even explode spontaneously, experts say.

There have been very few reports of TATP being used in the United States; however, there have been more documented cases overseas -- including Richard Reid, who was arrested after he used TATP in his shoe and tried to light it on a flight."

more at http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/5058347/detail.html

I guess feed stores in Norman are different than the ones in Kansas. Here it's usually farmers catching up on local gossip.

and dog food, primarily. I buy my dog food from there sometimes. It's called "Ellison Feed and Seed" and like I said, there's a lot of dog and cat food, gardening stuff, and a few livestock supplies, from what I've noticed. They may have more livestock feed in the warehouse, but since I don't buy that I haven't noticed and couldn't say for sure. At any rate, Ellison doesn't sell that type of fertilizer, it seems, but the employee did go out of his way to SAY he thought Hinrichs was suspicious acting/looking, and made it sound as though the employee refused him service. I only learned by reading the online version of the story that the store doesn't actually sell that type of fertilizer. Maybe the employee's telling it just like it happened; maybe he's exaggerating now that the deed is done. Anyway, that's the latest I know of.

Sounds like a nice place. :)

http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/5060237/detail.html


The Pakistani roommate of a man authorities said died when he detonated an explosive device outside a crowded football stadium was led in handcuffs from a party shortly after Saturday's explosion, the head of an Islamic student group said.

Fazal M. Cheema, a finance major, shared a university-owned apartment with Joel Hinrichs III, 21, who died Saturday when a device attached to his body exploded as he sat on a bench outside George Lynn Cross Hall.

Cheema and three other Muslim students were led in handcuffs from a party by police after the blast, Ashraf Hussein, president of the Muslim Student Association, said Tuesday. They later were released.

Meanwhile, Norman feed store operator Dustin Ellison said Hinrichs attempted to purchase ammonium nitrate a few days before the explosion. Ellison, whose family operates Ellison Feed and Seed, said the store no longer carries the product because of new federal guidelines regarding its sale. Ammonium nitrate can be used to build bombs and was a key ingredient in the 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.


-----------------

And then a tinfoil hat webpage that I know nothing about but it came up with googling the guy's name.

http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/

The source added: “Federal authorities are investigating Hinrich's roommates, friends and companions, some from Pakistan, who were on a watch list of potential terrorists in that area. Sources of funding and financing are also under investigation, and arrests are very possible. Thankfully, more than a few things went wrong, but the failed plan left Hinrich holding the bag in the end – literally,” added this source.

Clearly there is more to it than "depressed geek kills self". A lot more.

Commentary - Oct 6, 2005

Boomer Sooner
by Down the Middle

Anyone want to watch a movie? I sure wish we could...but unfortunately, the FBI confiscated all of the security tapes from Memorial Stadium, immediately upon their arrival at the scene of Saturday's mystery explosion, just 100 yards away from thousands of Sooner fans.

<snip>

Even when asked about Hinrichs' roommate and Pakistani national, Fazal M. Cheema, I was told that he was, in fact, detained but later released, because he "knew nothing". This however, seems a bit strange to me, as the man was living with a suicide bomber, his large cache of ammonium nitrate and reportedly, other explosive material, such as the highly volatile TAPA, the homemade concoction of household chemicals, said to have been the ingredients of infamous Richard Reed's "shoe bomb". It should be noted that ammonium nitrate, by itself, is only fertilizer.....so why would it be necessary to remove it to a safe area for destruction...and why should we expect that it had already been "mixed" with fuel, creating an active ANFO explosive, if suicide was the only intent?

What we do know is that this estranged young man had converted to Islam, moved into an area of campus housing with mostly Orientals (Middle and Far Easterns) and set about purchasing materials and concocting explosives, culminating in his death, when the device he was carrying exploded...very near a large gathering of Americans.

We know that days before the "suicide", an off duty, undercover police officer witnessed Hinrichs trying to purchase ammonium nitrate from Dustin Ellison (Ellison's Feed and Seed), who in turn, witnessed the officer call in the report on his personal cell phone...but according to Tom Easley, of the Norman Police Department, the official intelligence report of this discovery wasn't submitted until three days after the bombing.

We also know the FBI has confiscated the security tapes...and we will never, ever get to see them. They have gone the way of the 9/11 black boxes and the video of that Ryder truck (and it's occupants), in front of the the Murrah Building, moments before it was destroyed.

http://www.faulkingtruth.com/Articles/Commentary/1048.html

TYY