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OU suicide did not aim to harm others
Father says student under investigation 'ran out of optimism'
By Kathy Adams
One missing bench, a patch of lightly singed grass and a few broken windows were the only indications Monday of the suicide that occurred on the University of Oklahoma campus during a football game Saturday evening, when a bomb exploded about a football-field's length from Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
One person was killed during the explosion, and no one nearby was injured, said FBI spokesman Gary Johnson. The FBI is still investigating the incident, but suspects that the body recovered near Cross Hall, the university's botany-microbiology building, was that of 21-year-old Joel Henry Hinrichs III. Hinrichs was an engineering junior at OU and a member of the Triangle Fraternity for Scientists, Engineers and Architects. His father, Joel Hinrichs Jr. of Colorado Springs, Colo., said his son did not intend to hurt anyone and should not be associated with suicide bombers who try to frighten or harm people. He committed suicide in an open area of campus because he knew it would be a violent explosion, Hinrichs said. "He wanted there to be no question. He didn't want to live through it, so he used as much as he could carry." Hinrichs said. "He took pains so nobody would be frightened and nobody would be harmed because he didn't have any ill will in his heart; he just ran out of optimism." Hinrichs said his son Joel was very bright and "always interested in anything technical." He was lively and outgoing, but had a difficult time forming relationships with people his age, he said. "He realized that the things that energize your life were not present in his," Hinrichs said. "He looked at death through the end of a telescope and said, 'That's my entire future, why not go there now?'" Hinrichs spoke with his son on the phone three or four weeks prior to his death and through e-mails. Joel did not tell his father that anything was wrong, but he had told his two brothers some of his problems, Hinrichs said. Joel, the youngest in his family, had two brothers and two sisters. The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely.
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