Posts Regarding the 10/1/05 OU Suicide Bombing
Bombing IX
Mon October 02, 2006 9:31 am (UTC-5) by Nick Benson [Permalink] [0 Comment(s) | Add]
The OU Daily has a couple of stories in Today's paper about the bombing:
It's reassuring that Hinrichs would have "laughed at all the ruckus." Thanks OU Daily!
Bombing VIII
Wed March 01, 2006 10:59 am (UTC-6) by Nick Benson [Permalink] [54 Comment(s) | Add]
OU Daily and The Oklahoman both have articles on the bombing in today's paper.
Bombing VII
Wed January 25, 2006 12:06 am (UTC-6) by Nick Benson [Permalink] [0 Comment(s) | Add]
Yesterday I was contacted by detective John Bishop, of the OU Department of Public Safety. He was interested in using the pictures I took for a presentation that the department will be giving at several conferences. I happily provided a CD with all of the original pictures I took that day. I asked if he knew anything about the "guy in the red shirt," and he told me that he didn't know anything about it until reading it on my blog.
In any event, I'm glad that the police actually appreciate the pictures I took, as opposed to some of the people who left negative comments here stating otherwise.
Bombing VI
Mon October 03, 2005 2:01 pm (UTC-5) by Nick Benson [Permalink] [54 Comment(s) | Add]
I was just going through the pictures I took yesterday and noticed there were a few that I probably should have posted yesterday but were overlooked. Since it's better late than never, here are a few more pictures from yesterday, October 2nd.
Norman PD Bomb Squad prepares to enter the building.
Entering the building at 6:40 PM.
Bomb squad working to get explosives safely into trailer at 7:11 PM.
Bombing V
Mon October 03, 2005 1:06 pm (UTC-5) by Nick Benson [Permalink] [0 Comment(s) | Add]
Well, the road blocks and police tape are all down now - apparently I can take comfort in the notion that a a deadly cache of explosives is no longer sitting halfway down the block. That's a good feeling. I'm not sure if my neighbors have been allowed to move back in yet or not.
Also, my server was briefly inaccessible this afternoon due to the tremendous amounts of traffic I've been getting. I've bumped up the transfer limit, so it shouldn't happen again - I suspect the interest in this story has already peaked, or will peak very shortly.
Bombing IV
Sun October 02, 2005 10:23 pm (UTC-5) by Nick Benson [Permalink] [3 Comment(s) | Add]
At 9:26 PM I heard a loud boom (as did a friend, who's at Highway 9 and Classen), which sounded to me like it was very nearby. Being curious, I grabbed my camera and walked over towards the roadblock to see what was going on.
As soon as I got close to it an officer asked me what I was holding (it was dark, my camera may have looked kinda gunnish), I told him it was my camera, and he asked to see my ID. I complied and he radioed "I got the guy in the red shirt."
He asked me what officers had told me earlier, I told him, and he asked "and they didn't tell you to stay away?" Nope, they hadn't. He asked if they knew I had a camera - yes, they sure did. At this point, two more officers approached and told me to stay away at night, since it was "too dark to get any pictures."
I asked if the boom I had just heard was related to the incident here, and he said he couldn't say, but he did mention that it was "down at the range" and "good practice." I can only assume that meant that they were disposing of whatever they recovered from the apartment today, unless they had planned a practice for tonight.
Apparently the people in the Walker Tower dorm building are going nuts, because they thought the explosion happened there - this is *not* true. There was no explosion at the Walker dorm - it was "at the range."
In any-case, It seemed kind of weird that they were interested in me as "the guy in the red shirt." I talked to several officers during the course of the day, all of them saw that I had a camera, some of them saw me taking pictures and none asked me to stop. I never crossed any police tape and complied with their every request. There were dozens of other people doing the exact same thing today - maybe there was another guy in a red shirt giving them trouble? I hope I didn't annoy/anger/agitate anyone today... I certainly did my best not to. I genuinely appreciate the work these guys are doing - some of them told me it was their day off. If I was the "guy in the red shirt" they were interested in, I do offer my sincere apology. I will continue to comply with your requests. I mean no harm, I'm just interested in what's going on my neighborhood.
Bombing III
Sun October 02, 2005 8:05 pm (UTC-5) by Nick Benson [Permalink] [3 Comment(s) | Add]
The OU Daily has a good summary of what's going on so far.
From a safe perspective I observed the bomb squad remove a dark covered duffel bag from the second story of the apartment building I took some pictures of earlier. They had a rope running from the apartment's bedroom window to a light post, which provided a path for the bag to slide to the waiting trailer of the Norman PD bomb squad. The bag was removed at 7:07 PM, and the bomb squad drove away ten minutes later. The squad pulled up to the intersection of Sooner and George, went south to Stinson, and then headed west.
The line running between the building and the light-post. The bracket in the center is connected to the trailer that was used to haul the bag away.
The bomb squad prepares to enter the building to extract which I assume to be explosives. The apartment they went into is in the upper left of the image.
 | The bomb squad suits up. I believe the bag being held up in the center image was the bag that was [later] lowered out of the window on the rope. The bracket over the trailer which was just visible in the first picture in this post is clearly seen from this perspective. |
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The real media was also at the scene, as indicated by the two masts rising from behind the building.
Green circle is where the guy lived, cyan circle is where I went to watch after they told me to get back. Red lines are the police lines setup earlier in the day.
Kudos to the Norman PD for taking care of this. Those guys have a pretty dangerous job, and I tip my hat to them for a job well done.
Bombing II
Sun October 02, 2005 1:54 pm (UTC-5) by Nick Benson [Permalink] [1 Comment(s) | Add]
Well, right after I wrote that last post, I did a quick search on google news to see if there was any new information. The Norman Transcript reported:
"Early Sunday, Norman police, OU police, FBI and other federal agents remained on the scene. Police were also searching an area near George Avenue, south of the OU Brandt Park Duck Pond, although it was unknown whether that was related to the campus blast. Some of the residents of the Parkview Apartments were being evacuated."
Which was very interesting to me... since we live in the Parkview Apartments, south of the Duck Pond. I looked out my window, and sure enough, there was an OUPD van sitting on the street.
I wandered out and found that Norman PD, OUPD, and "Norman Security" (private contractor?) were guarding a perimeter just to the northwest of our apartment. A Norman PD officer said he heard the blast last night when he was on patrol near the stadium, but wasn't aware of what had happened until 30-60 minutes later. Along with the other people guarding the perimeter, he confirmed that this was related to the incident last night, and that people had been evacuated from the apartment buildings.
Here's a map I whipped up using Google Maps that shows the area where everything's happening.
Red lines show approximate police lines. Note where we live in the SE corner.
Looking south on George from near Lindsey. White police car is parked at intersection of George and Sooner.
Looking east down Sooner. I believe the building they were most interested in is just above the police car, however that's purely a guess based on where the police tape was.
Looking west from the east side of Sooner towards the building I suspect they're interested in.
Assuming there's actually something noteworthy in one of these buildings, we know that the bomber was definitely associated with OU, as only OU students, staff, faculty, and their families may live in this complex. Pretty spooky stuff.
Bombing
Sun October 02, 2005 12:07 pm (UTC-5) by Nick Benson [Permalink] [0 Comment(s) | Add]
Apparently someone blew themselves up on the OU campus last night, which is obviously disturbing in and of itself, but the person also did it very near to the stadium, where 84,000 people were watching the football game. I can't help but wonder if this person intended to harm someone either inside or outside of the stadium - the area is so full of people on game day it's surprising that something could explode and not harm someone else. In any case, Emily and I are both fine, we didn't attend the game and neither of us heard any explosions.