So much for the lonely, depressed young student theory to explain how University of Oklahoma Joel Hinrichs found himself blown to bits on a park bench outside the packed campus football stadium last fall. The Daily Oklahoman reports on A1 today:

A Norman police bomb expert said Tuesday he does not believe University of Oklahoma student Joel Henry Hinrichs III committed suicide by blowing himself up outside a packed football stadium.

“I believe he accidentally blew himself up,” Sgt. George Mauldin said.

Mauldin said Hinrichs, 21, an engineering student, had two to three pounds of triacetone triperoxide, commonly known as TATP, in a backpack in his lap when it exploded Oct. 1.

When asked if he believed Hinrichs meant to enter the stadium with the explosives, Mauldin replied, “I don’t believe he intended for an explosion to occur at that spot (on the park bench).”

“Some of us will forever wonder what he (Hinrichs) was doing at that time, at that place,” Police Chief Phil Cotten said.

Hinrichs was sitting on a park bench 173 yards from the OU stadium during the second quarter of OU’s night game against Kansas State when the TATP inside his backpack detonated.

“Someone saw him fiddling with it (the backpack) shortly before the explosion occurred. I think he got cocky, and it went off,” Mauldin said.

Hat tip: Mark Tapscott, who writes:

Within hours of Hinrichs death, the FBI’s Joint Task Force on Terrorism took over the investigation of the incident. Soon thereafter, both FBI officials and University of Oklahoma President David Boren said Hinrichs had no known terrorist connections and intended only to kill himself.

Despite the official denials, there was substantial evidence at the time of Hinrichs death and in the days thereafter as more was learned about his background and actions during the final year of his life that suggested to others the distinct possibility that Hinrichs was involved in some way with a terrorist activity.

Jason Smith:

So what “spot” was he intending to detonate? That’s the million dollar question. He had 2 to 3 pounds of TATP, “the most unstable explosive known and the explosive of choice in the Middle East”. Even a small amount can cause an explosion. 2 to 3 pounds. That’s quite a bit of “mother of satan” for a lonely kid to use when he decides to “just quit living”.

Think the Wall Street Journal and others who bought the despondent suicide theory will follow up?

Flashback WSJ: “Hours after the explosion, OU’s Mr. Boren issued a statement saying the university was ‘apparently dealing with an individual suicide.’”

Flashback Cathy Young: “According to the authorities, there is no indication that Hinrichs was anything more than a depressed, troubled young man…. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) has also said that the FBI has assured him that Hinrichs’s act was an individual suicide.”

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