Nov 22, 2006 1:18 pm US/Mountain
Brother Of Univ. Of Oklahoma Bomber Held
Hinrichs' Brother Made Alleged Threat
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ―
A man whose brother blew himself up outside the
University of Oklahoma's packed football stadium last year faces a federal charge of threatening an FBI agent in Colorado.
The FBI said
Thomas Carlisle Hinrichs, 25, of Colorado Springs made the alleged threat last week after he was arrested by police on suspicion of assaulting his father. The FBI also said the younger Hinrichs had been under investigation for allegedly threatening the government.
Hinrichs was being held Wednesday in the El Paso County jail on the state charge and has not yet appeared in federal court.
His brother,
Joel "Joe" Henry Hinrichs III, died Oct. 1, 2005, when a bomb he was carrying went off outside the University of Oklahoma football stadium in Norman, Okla., during a game. FBI investigators concluded he was not a terrorists but did not speculate on whether he triggered the explosion intentionally. His father has said Joel Hinrichs was severely depressed.
Thomas Hinrichs was arrested Nov. 15 in Colorado Springs after his father, Joel Henry Hinrichs Jr., told police the younger man had assaulted him. The father had no listed phone number and could not be reached Wednesday.
He told police his son has mental health problems but knows right from wrong.
Police who arrested the younger Hinrichs said he had a Romanian-made assault rifle, ammunition, a military helmet, a ballistic vest, a knife, knee pads, a flashlight and other gear in his car and was carrying another knife.
The younger Hinrichs told a Colorado Springs officer he had the rifle because of an FBI agent named Todd, the FBI said in an affidavit filed Tuesday in Denver federal court. The agent's last name was not listed.
Hinrichs also told the officer the FBI had harassed him and then became agitated and screamed "I will settle it," the FBI document said.
He later told FBI investigators he had abandoned the idea of killing the agent, the document said.
Hinrichs allegedly also had considered killing his high school principal and his father, according to the affidavit.
The FBI said it had opened its domestic terrorism investigation of the younger Thomas Hinrichs the day after his brother's death but closed it six months later after determining he hadn't made any specific threats. It was not clear why the investigation was opened.
The investigation was reopened in August 2006 after the younger Hinrichs left a telephone message with the FBI saying he was angry at the federal government and blaming schools for his brother's death, the FBI affidavit said. He left a second message in October saying "I will ... bury you, do you understand, I will bury you," the affidavit said.
Hinrichs was being held in lieu of $25,000 bond on the charge of assaulting his father but cannot be released on bail because of the federal charge, jail officials said.
The U.S. attorney's office in Denver will work with El Paso County prosecutors on when Hinrichs will be transferred to federal custody, U.S. attorney's spokesman Jeff Dorschner said.
If convicted of threatening a federal officer, Hinrichs could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and be fined up to $250,000.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
