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A Site Search Go site web Attempted Murder Charges in UNC Hit-and-Run Sources: Possible link to terrorism WTVD Eyewitness News and The Associated Pres (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, sources tell Eyewitness News and ABC News.
Pinpoint Traffic 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 - - five students and a visiting scholar - - were treated for minor injuries and released from UNC Hospitals. Chopper 11 shows the accident scene near The Pit at UNC-CH. Police say they arrested the suspect, Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22, of Chapel Hill, shortly after the incident. He reportedly called police shortly after the incident and surrendered a few miles from campus. Police said they would charge Taheri-azar with nine counts of attempted murder. Sources say Taheri-azar told police he was seeking retribution for the treatment of Muslims around the world, according to ABC News justice correspondent Pierre Thomas. Taheri-azar apparently told police he tried to rent the biggest SUV he could find to use in the attack. Taheri-azar told police Friday, "If you want to know why I did it, go check my bed at my apartment." "He said it almost in a baiting type of way," Carrboro police spokesman Capt. By Friday afternoon, a police SWAT team had surrounded a Carrboro apartment complex where Taheri-azar lived. Taking no chances, heavily armed authorities blew open the door to his University Commons apartment. After several hours of searching the apartment, Carrboro police sounded the all-clear, allowing residents back inside late Friday evening. "We may find other things down the road, but right now, we were not in there looking for trace-type evidence," said Booker. "We're in there looking for something that could cause all of us harm. Taheri-azar was born in Iran, but grew up in Indian Trail, near Charlotte. Eyewitness News obtained video of Taheri-azar giving a presentation to a UNC-CH English class last spring. He graduated in December 2005 with majors in philosophy and psychology. Police are looking at phone calls he made recently, as well as e-mail, to see if anyone else was involved. In addition to a political motivation, authorities likely will be looking at a psychological analysis. A law enforcement source tells Eyewitness News that Taheri-azar had been plotting the attack for some time and was prepared to die. "My officials are using the term 'lone wolf,'" said ABC's Pierre Thomas. Sources tell Eyewitness News and ABC News that Taheri-azar was intent on killing people Friday. "One official said the officials and students on campus were lucky today," Thomas said. "Because if he had done what he wanted to do, you'd probably have some dead people on your campus." Last month, Muslim students at UNC protested the publication in The Daily Tar Heel 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. com and ABC11 Eyewitness News for the latest on this developing story.
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