More details - and evasions - in OU bomb case

Joel Hinrichs, the 21-year-old engineering student from Colorado Springs, reportedly tried to buy ammonium nitrate fertilizer from a local feed store several days before he died in an explosion touched off a mere hundred yards from 84,000 OU fans.

And an Oklahoma City TV station is reporting that Hinrichs attended a Norman mosque -- the same one attended by Zacharias Moussawi, the alleged 20th 9/11 hijacker -- and had a Pakistani roommate who worked for the OU athletic department. These details give more credibility to reports from Tuesday that Islamic "jihad" reading materials were found in Hinrichs' apartment.

Now for some background. According to the Norman Transcript:

Earlier last week, Hinrichs tried to buy ammonium nitrate fertilizer from Ellison Feed and Seed in east Norman.

Dustin Ellison said the student visited his store last Wednesday and asked to buy the fertilizing ingredient often used in bombs. Ellison said Hinrichs didn’t know how much he needed, and the store operator asked why the fertilizer was needed. After further discussion, Ellison said “something didn’t feel right” and decided not to sell any materials to him.

In all seriousness, Mr. Ellison should receive a Medal of Freedom for having good instincts. Ammonium nitrate fertilizer is the same stuff used in the 1995 Oklahoma City Murrah Building bombing.

The same story reports that OU President David Boren is now shifting his words to avoid emphasizing "individual suicide."

“I do not say suicide, I say it’s an individual death that we’re dealing with. That’s all we really know.”

The Transcript article quotes an FBI press release and Boren. A careful reader should note the many qualifications contained within: "At this time ... no known threat ... premature to comment ... no known current threat ... at this time ... no known threat ... at this time ... no known link ..."

Parse this Boren comment:

“Was he in the stadium, did he attempt to enter the stadium?” Boren asked rhetorically. “To our knowledge, at this point, the answer to that question is no.”

We must beg to differ: "To our knowledge, at this point" the answer is not no. He should have said, "We do not know." There is a great difference. But Boren is trying hard to reassure moms and dads and contributors that everything is locked down and hunky dory, without actually saying anything of subsance. Truthful, from a certain point of view, but not accurate or very useful.

The FBI press release quoted by the Transcript reads, in part:

“While it would be premature to comment on the specifics of the current investigation or draw any final conclusions before the investigation is completed,” the release said, “the following is provided … as to facts relevant to public safety.”

The FBI release continued by stating, “There is no known current threat posed by any additional explosive materials. At this time, there is no known threat from any other person(s) related to this incident. At this time, there is no known link between Hinrichs and any terrorist or extremist organization(s) or activities.”

Oklahoma City TV Channel 5 News (KOCO) had a report Tuesday confirming earlier reports that Hinrichs' bomb contained acetone peroxide, also known as TATP. This is the same substance used by the London subway terrorists and by Mr. Hot Foot himself, shoe bomber Richard Reid. It's easy to mix in the kitchen sink but it's unstable, sensitive to sudden shocks or high temperatures, and can even spontaneously detonate.

Boren did clear up one question mark when he said that it is normal security procedure for trained officers to use bomb-sniffing dogs to inspect Memorial Stadium prior to football games. Some had questioned whether last Saturday's pre-game security sweep was a response to a bomb threat. Apparently it was not.

Still one of the big questions of the post-game investigation is: Where is the roommate (or roommates) of Hinrichs? Is anyone in custody? Is anyone missing?

If a roommate has been investigated and cleared of implication, authorities should say so.

If a roommate is missing, or being held, authorities should divulge this as well.

UPDATE No.1 -- Daily Okahoman has new details including the name of the roommate. See later post here.

More mystifying yet is the absence of this story from the MainStream Media (MSM). Outside of the Oklahoma City area, what little reporting exists has been a rehash of the watery press releases. Even the reliable Matt Drudge has been AWOL.

Do you think we exaggerate the omission? Ask yourself this: Would the MSM and Drudge be AWOL if Hinrichs had been sitting 125 yards further north when his bomb-laden vest exploded?

UPDATE -- Others in the alternate media are wondering where the big boys are. Check out Gerry's Daly Thoughts.

Obviously more to come, developing.