Thread: SUV Plows Through Students At University Of North Carolina

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7002643845

Click for Video

SUV Plows Through Students At University Of North Carolina

March 3, 2006 8:00 p.m. EST


Yvonne Lee - All Headline News Staff Reporter

Chapel Hill, NC (AHN) - Six people are injured when a sport utility vehicle drives through students at a busy section of the University of North Carolina's campus.

None of the five students and a visiting scholar being treated at local hospitals are seriously injured.

The Associated Press reports that former UNC student Mohammed Reza Taheriazar has been taken into custody by campus police.

The university says in a statement that police plan on charging him with multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

Town police Capt. Brian Curran says Taheriazar called police to surrender.

Officer Herbert Bryant of the university's Department of Public Safety says, "He kind of gave himself up."

Student Nicholas Altman witnessed the incident:

He tells WRAL-TV, "I turned around and there was a white SUV. It looked like it hit a couple of people. One person in particular went over the hood."

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?secti ... id=3958312

New Details about UNC-CH Attack
Sources: Possible link to terrorism
By Amber Rupinta
(03/03/06 -- CHAPEL HILL) - The driver of an SUV that plowed into a group of pedestrians at UNC-Chapel Hill on Friday told police it was retribution for the treatment of Muslims around the world, according to ABC News.

It happened around noon Friday in front of Lenoir Hall on the campus, in a common area known as the Pit. Paramedics took six people to UNC Hospitals. Five had been released by Friday evening and the sixth was not expected to be admitted.
Officials say none of the people were seriously injured. Three refused treatment at the scene.

Chapel Hill police say they arrested the suspect, Mohammed Reva Taheriazar, 23, of Chapel Hill, shortly after the incident. Several witnesses were able to give police the rented Jeep Cherokee's license plate number.

Police said they would charge Taheriazar, a psychology major who graduated from UNC last semester, with several counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.


Link to terrorism?
Sources say Taheriazar told police he was seeking retribution for the treatment of Muslims around the world, according to ABC News justice correspondent Pierre Thomas. Taheriazar apparently told police he tried to rent the biggest SUV he could find to use in the attack.
By Friday afternoon, a police SWAT team had surrounded a Carrboro apartment complex where Taheriazar reportedly lived.

Authorities released few details about the activity at the University Commons apartments. Video from Chopper 11 showed officers surrounding the building with their guns drawn. Bomb squad members protective could be seen entering the apartment Friday evening.

There was no indication that Taheriazar is connected with larger terror groups. Thomas said his sources said Taheriazar may have been the sole actor in the attack.

Wow! Thank you Brian. The news of the incident has been on the airwaves all day, but this is a whole new can of worms!
We had not heard about it being a terrorist attack until this news came out tonight.

W

http://www.wral.com/news/7651436/detail.html

Six Hurt As SUV Plows Into Student-Filled 'Pit'

POSTED: 12:30 pm EST March 3, 2006
UPDATED: 11:09 pm EST March 3, 2006



CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Authorities say 23-year-old Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, who drove a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee into The Pit at the UNC-Chapel Hill campus around noon Friday, may have acted to avenge American treatment of Muslims.

Police intend to charge Taheri-azar, who graduated from UNC in 2005, with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, said Capt. George Hare of the UNC Department of Public Safety.

The FBI joined the case because Taheri-azar, a native of Iran, "allegedly made statements that he acted to avenge the American treatment of Muslims. The ongoing investigation will work to confirm this," said Special Agent Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington.

Last month, Muslim students at UNC protested the publication in The Daily Tar Heel student newspaper of an original cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad. Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry. The recent publication of a series of cartoons of Muhammad in European newspapers sparked violent protests in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The Muslim Students Association, which was among the leading critics of the cartoon, said Teheri-azar had never been a member of the group and denounced him on its Web site.

"Regardless of what his intentions prove to be, we wholeheartedly deplore this action, and trust that our fellow classmates will be able to dissociate the actions of this one disturbed individual from the beliefs of the Muslim community as a whole," the statement said. "Peace be upon you all."

All Injured Now Out Of Hospital

Six people -- five students and a visiting lecturer -- were taken to UNC Hospitals with minor injuries, hospital spokesman Tom Hughes said. All six have been treated and released. Three other people declined treatment on the scene, according to police.

Authorities later found the vehicle on Plant Road near Franklin Street and Taheri-azar was taken into custody. Authorities said that drugs and alcohol are not believed to have been involved.

A student who witnessed the event, said that the SUV was going between 40 and 45 mph when it hit the students at the Pit, which is located in an open area surrounded by two libraries, a dining hall and the Frank Porter Graham Student Union on campus.

Campus police said Taheri-azar used an area designed to give access to Lenoir Hall to work his way to the Pit. Coming from the parking lots in the north side of Davis Library, a car could travel down the side of the cafeteria and end up in the Pit from there. Normally, there are barricades up but on Friday, they were not in place.

Several witnesses saw the SUV as plowed through that part of campus.

"He was speeding up and swerving to hit people. One person got knocked out of a wheelchair, and he didn't care," said student Lauren Westate, who saw the accident.

"I see everyone kind of part because there's a car coming through and the next thing I know, I'm on his windshield," sophomore Jeff Hoffman, his arm in a bandage, told the campus newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel.

On a sunny, cool day like Friday, the Pit is a busy center of campus activities, with students perched along the walkways and steps. Friday's noontime crowd included a gathering of candidates for Black Student Movement elections.

Nicholas Altman, who was having coffee nearby, said that one man was hit and thrown onto the hood of the SUV. That person was taken away on a stretcher, Altman said.

"I was on my phone and I heard somebody scream," Altman said. "I turned around and there was a white SUV. It looked like it hit a couple of people. One person in particular went over the hood."

Student affairs staff and counselors have been providing support to students who watched the scene unfold.

Agents Surround Carrboro Apartments After Incident

Sky 5
State and local investigators converged outside the University Commons Apartments in Carrboro early Friday afternoon, where the suspect in the UNC incident is believed to have lived.

Around two hours after the crash, state and local investigators surrounded Building D at University Commons Apartments at 303 Smith Level Road in Carrboro, where Taheri-azar is believed to have lived.

Josh Curd, 26, who lives in the same building as Taheri-azar, said that at about 12:30 p.m. an officer knocked loudly on his door and "tells me to get out and run up the hill." Curd complied and remained outside after dark in nothing but medical scrubs and a T-shirt.

A bomb squad from the State Bureau of Investigation spent about 4 1/2 hours at Taheri-azar's apartment at the request of police before declaring the building safe. Taheri-azar "encouraged the checking of his apartment" with comments made after he was arrested, Carrboro police spokesman Capt. Joel Booker said.

"He said it almost in a baiting type of way," Booker said.

Local authorities declined to say what they found in Taheri-azar's apartment or to discuss a motive. Investigators continued to search the apartment Friday night for other evidence, Booker said.

"As far as delving into his motives and things like that, we're in the process of developing that in our investigation," Hare said.

Incident Brings Back Grim Memories For UNC

The incident came just a week after the campus was shaken by the death of one of two students who crashed through a dormitory window, falling four stories onto the concrete below. The second student remained hospitalized in fair condition.

Friday's incident brought back memories of a deadly day near campus from several years ago. Back in 1995, Wendell Williamson walked down a street near campus and opened fire. Two people died in the rampage.

Williamson, who was a law student, was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to Dorothea Dix Mental Hospital, where he remains under care.

Sources say Taheriazar told police he was seeking retribution for the treatment of Muslims around the world

They are keeping the identity quiet down here, locally anyway. I am glad he could come here and use our school!

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/14021416.htm

Posted on Sun, Mar. 05, 2006
UNC suspect was `nice guy'

Chapel Hill rampage stuns South Meck High classmate who knew him as `Mo-Mo'

SHARIF DURHAMS AND ERIC FRAZIER
sdurhams@charlotteobserver.comefrazier@charlotteobserver.com

CARRBORO - UNC Chapel Hill police say a former Charlotte resident told them he drove an SUV through a crowd on campus to avenge the deaths of Muslims worldwide.

The news stunned a former classmate who attended South Mecklenburg High School with Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, a native of Iran.

"We called him Mo-Mo," recalled Erin Ludwick, a 2001 graduate of South Mecklenburg. "I spoke to him many, many times. (He was) a very nice guy. I can't believe this happened."

Police said Taheri-azar's rented silver Jeep Cherokee hit nine people Friday as it tore through the Pit, a sunken brick-paved campus hangout. Five students and a visiting lecturer were taken to UNC Hospitals; all six had been released by late Friday.

Police are holding Taheri-azar in a Raleigh prison on $5.5 million bond, and have charged him with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

Police said Taheri-azar told them they'd find more clues if they looked in his apartment, a couple of miles from the university. A bomb squad broke in Friday and was probing inside until Saturday morning.

Police wouldn't specify what they found, but reporters entering the apartment later saw U.S. military pamphlets, Islamic religious materials and books about global politics and terrorism.

"He indicated to us we would find the reason for the attack in his apartment," said UNC Police Chief Derek Poarch, who revealed details Saturday of his department's interviews with Taheri-azar, 22.

"There is every indication in this early stage of the investigation that he acted alone," Poarch said. "There is no indication whatsoever that he acted in concert with anyone."

Taheri-azar will have a court appearance Monday. Poarch's agency is leading the investigation, which involves the FBI, the State Bureau of Investigation and two other local agencies.

Authorities say Taheri-azar was born in Iran, though Poarch says he's lived in the United States for several years.

During the search, police had blasted open his door. After they left, reporters looked around.

Several books, including a paperback copy of the Quran and a book calling for the U.S. to confront state-sponsored terrorism, lined a wall of his bedroom. A calendar hung on one wall showing Muslim devotional sayings.

U.S. Army pamphlets lay spread on a stripped-down mattress in Taheri-azar's bedroom. Across the room was a letter from a Florida college, inviting Taheri-azar to interview for a graduate student program later this month.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials couldn't confirm Saturday that Taheri-azar attended a local school. But Erin Ludwick said Taheri-azar was in several of her honors classes at South Mecklenburg.

Ludwick and her parents said Taheri-azar, his mother and his sister lived next door to them in south Charlotte for about five years. They moved about two years ago, said Erin's father, Steve Ludwick.

Erin's mother, Pat Ludwick, said she went over to introduce herself shortly after Taheri-azar's family moved in. His mother struggled with English, Pat Ludwick said. She'd sometimes see Taheri-azar coming and going.

"He always waved. He was relatively friendly," Pat Ludwick said. "But they always stayed to themselves."

Taheri-azar, who majored in psychology and philosophy, graduated from UNC in December, university officials say. A police report says he was working at a Franklin Street sandwich shop.

There have been tensions between some campus Muslim students and the student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, in recent months, though officer Poarch says police have no evidence the dispute motivated Taheri-azar.

The campus paper published a commentary criticizing Arabs last fall. Last month, the paper drew a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which led to a sit-in at the newspaper's offices.

Poarch said Taheri-azar was only nominally involved with the group that organized the sit-in, the campus Muslim Student Association.

Police say they don't know of ties between Taheri-azar and any other organized Muslim groups.

The incident rocked a campus still grieving the death of a sophomore who crashed through a dorm window and fell four stories a week earlier. The twin tragedies have taxed the university's grief counselors, who still had students approaching them Saturday.

"All of our students have been through a lot," said Margaret Jablonski, the school's vice chancellor for student affairs. "We will continue to do all we can to support the university community during this difficult time."

Several members of Charlotte's Muslim community said they didn't know of him or his family, and expressed dismay about the incident.

"It's a tragic thing," said Habib Khan, a member of the Islamic Society of Charlotte. "Running cars at people has nothing to do with the treatment of people, it doesn't make it any better or solve any problems."

Jibril Hough, spokesman for the Islamic Society, said the Muslim community has been struggling to cope with the controversy over cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.

"It's definitely not going to do anything to help the atmosphere right now. It's definitely making things more tense."

In His Apartment

UNC Chapel Hill police say Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar told them he drove into a crowd of students on campus because he wanted to avenge the deaths of Muslims. Officers searched his apartment Friday night and Saturday morning. Several books and documents remained in Taheri-azar's bedroom Saturday afternoon, including:

"Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism" by Cornel West.

"Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror" by retired generals and Fox news analysts Thomas McInerney and Paul Vallely.

A paperback copy of the Quran.

A "Questionnaire for National Security Positions."

U.S. Army pamphlets.

A scrapbook with pictures of racing cars.

I just read the Arizona Republic, they were already downplaying the injuries and the seriousness of the incident.

Their headline was something bland, like: "Driver injuries nine"


-pa

So, does anyone still believe Islam is a peaceful religion? Did you know that hispanics are joining up with this religion by the thousands?

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadAr ... p?ID=21541

Tar Heel Terror
By Joe Kaufman
FrontPageMagazine.com | March 7, 2006

On Friday, Iranian-born Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, a 22 year-old UNC graduate, tore through a lunchtime crowd at one of the university’s popular gathering spots with a Jeep Grand Cherokee, hitting nine people of which six were hospitalized with injuries.

Taheri-azar was arrested and charged with nine counts, each of attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon. According to Derech Poarch, the chief of the university police department, the attacker told investigators that he wanted to “avenge the deaths or murders of Muslims around the world.” Upon entering his apartment, a paperback copy of the Quran was found in Taheri-azar’s room, along with a book calling for the United States to “confront state sponsors of terrorism.” He was shown, on news video footage, handcuffed and being led into a car sporting a giant grin.

At the court hearing on Monday, that same smile was ingrained on his face. Like Zacarias Moussaoui, whose trial coincided with Taheri-azar’s hearing, Taheri-azar stated that he wanted to represent himself. And like Moussaoui, who proudly proclaimed, “I’m Al-Qaeda,” Taheri-azar used the courtroom forum to voice his Islamist ideology. Clad in orange jumpsuit and leg shackles, he stated, “I am thankful you are going to hear this trial to learn more about the will of Allah, the creator.” And in response to a reporter’s question, he confirmed that, “Yes,” it was his intention to murder those he hit with the SUV he had just rented. In the 911 call he had made after the attack, he told the operator that he did this “to punish the government of the United States.”

The question of whether or not he was acting alone has been raised. To this effect, eyes have been focused on the university’s Muslim Students Association (MSA), which was recently involved in a protest of the UNC campus newspaper’s publishing of a Mohammed cartoon. After the incident, the MSA quickly issued a press release distancing itself from Taheri-azar and condemning what it called a “hit and run incident.” Later, MSA’s President, Uzma Khan, declined to comment.

In the release, the MSA admitted that Taheri-azar had made a “few appearances” with its group but said that he was not a member. As such, the MSA likened him to “one disturbed individual from the beliefs of the Muslim community as a whole.”

According to the MSA press release, the appearances Taheri-azar made with the group were done in an on-campus “prayer room,” reserved by the MSA. Yet, this bit of information is contradicted on the group’s website. Under the heading “Quick Facts [FAQ],” the UNC-MSA homepage answers the question, “Where is the prayer room located?” The link doesn’t lead one to information about an on-campus entity, but instead, it takes one to the homepage of the Islamic Center of Raleigh, also known as the Islamic Association of Raleigh (IAR).

IAR was established in 1985 by members of the MSA and the Islamic Association of North Carolina (IANC), with seed money from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. That same year, upon invitation by the MSA of N.C. State (where Sami al-Arian was at the time), Mohammed Bajanonie, a Syrian-born teacher, became IAR’s “full time” imam, as he still is today.

Numerous speeches made by Bajanonie are found on IAR’s website. Included in these speeches are his views about Jews, Christians, and jihad. He states the following:

• “Imam Muslim reported that the prophet (S.A.W.) said: ‘The first person, whose case will be adjudicated on the Day of Judgment, will be a martyr…He will say: I carried on Jihad (fighting) in the cause till I was martyred….’” (from ‘How the Judgment is Established in the Day of Judgment’) [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “From the transgression, the oppression, and the corruption of the Jews was hindering many from Allah’s Way and dealing with riba [usury/interest] while it is forbidden.” (from ‘Dealing with Riba is one of the Major Sins’) [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “This meaning is emphasized by the saying of the prophet (S.A.W.) when he said, ‘By whom my soul is in His hand, if one, Jew or Christian, heard of me, then died and he/she did not believe in that which I was sent with, then they are from the dwellers of Hell fire.’” (from ‘Definition of the Word Deen & the Word Islam’) [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “And also as Allah (S.W.T.) says…‘You who believe, take not the Jews and the Christians as Auliya’ [friends], they are but Auliya’ to each other. And he amongst you takes them as Auliya’ then surely he is one of them. Verily Allah guides not a people unjust.’” (from ‘Iman is the Tie in the Muslim Society’) [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “And it is not allowed at all for any Muslim to say to them [Jews and Christians] that you have the truthful Deen [authority], and you are like us; both of us belong to Ibrahim [Abrahamic religions], because in doing this, he will be rejecting the words of Allah to them (‘You have nothing’), and he will be rejecting Allah.” (from ‘The Truth Has to Be Conveyed Completely’)[/*:m:3quskgsr]

While the North Carolina MSA’s association with IAR is troubling, the problem with the group goes much further.

On October 12, 2005, the MSA brought Radwan Masmoudi, the founder and President of the Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy (CSID), to the UNC campus. The event was titled, “The Future of Democracy in the Muslim World.” The CSID was created by leaders from the American Muslim Council (AMC). AMC leaders have been known to praise Hamas and Hezbollah. Masmoudi’s leadership made Kamran Bokhari, the U.S. representative for the defunct British extremist organization Al-Muhajiroun, a fellow at CSID. (The BBC announced Al-Muhajiroun“wants this country to become an Islamic state.”)

On February 23-24, the MSA invited two of the most radical Islamic speakers in the United States to address its “Special Friday Youth Session” and “Saturday Marriage Session.”

Mohamed Rida Beshir was featured in the first event. Beshir is an advisor for Islam Online, a website that showcases live interviews with leaders of Hamas. He is a member of the editorial board and a contributing writer for MAS’s magazine, The American Muslim, which has written that Palestinian “[m]artyr operations are not suicide and should not be deemed as unjustifiable.” He has held various positions with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) (including writing for ISNA’s bi-monthly publication, Islamic Horizons) and the Muslim American Society (MAS), two groups connected to the virulent Muslim Brotherhood. Beshir, as well, has authored articles for The Message International, a publication put out by the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), a group that scholars state has ties to Pakistan’s version of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e-Islami.

Featured in the second event was Amir Abdul Malik Ali. The following are quotes attributed to him (as compiled by Discover the Network):

• “Stay conscious and ask Allah to raise the Muslims and give us victory over the disbeliever.” [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “When it's all over, the only one standing is gonna be us.” [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “We must implement Islam as a totality,” in which “Allah controls every place – the home, the classroom, the science lab, the halls of Congress.” [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “The enemies of Islam know that when we come back to power we're gonna check 'em.” [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “Sooner or later, today's Muslim students will be the parents of Muslim children. And they should be militants.” [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “[T]he Israelis were ‘in-control’ of 9-11,” which “was staged to give an excuse to wage war against Muslims around the world.” [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “You [Jews] are walking into all the traps we want you to walk into. You hijacked American foreign policy.” [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• “Neo-cons are all Zionist Jews.” [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• Zionism is a mixture of “chosen people-ness and white supremacy.” [/*:m:3quskgsr]
• Israelis ought to return “to Germany, to Poland, to Russia. The Germans should hook y'all up. You [Israelis] should go back to Germany.”[/*:m:3quskgsr]

On February 16th, the MSA, in coordination with UNC faculty and Campus Y, a left wing group that features anti-Israel speakers, hosted a vigil and educational dialogue event on university grounds. According to the MSA, the affair was held to shed light on the controversy surrounding the Danish cartoons. The vigil and dialogue event put on by the MSA was entitled “Extinguishing Ignorance with Knowledge.” Could this have been the event that put Taheri-azar over the edge?

Either way, it becomes clear that the MSA in general, and the UNC chapter in particular, appear to have deep and troubling ties to extremist Islam. UNC college students may have suffered the consequences last Friday.

I heard on he radio today that he is not being charged as a terrorist.