Iran Native Drives Through Crowd on UNC-Chapel Hill Campus

By Linda Orlando

Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 23, drove a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee into the UNC-Chapel Hill campus around noon on Friday, and headed for the Pit, an open area surrounded by two libraries, a dining hall, and the student union. His SUV was going about 45 mph when Taheri-azar began intentionally hitting people in the crowd. Lauren Westate, a student who saw the incident, told reporters, "He was speeding up and swerving to hit people. One person got knocked out of a wheelchair, and he didn’t care." Sophomore Jeff Hoffman, his arm in a bandage, told reporters, "I see everyone kind of part because there’s a car coming through and the next thing I know, I’m on his windshield."

Six people—five students and a visiting lecturer—were taken to UNC Hospitals with minor injuries, where they were treated and released. Three other people were injured, but declined treatment. Police later found the SUV and Taheri-azar was taken into custody. The FBI was called in to assist in the investigation because Taheri-azar, a native or Iran, "allegedly made statements that he acted to avenge the American treatment of Muslims," said Special Agent Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington, D.C. "The ongoing investigation will work to confirm this."

Carrboro police spokesman Capt. Joel Booker said that in comments made after he was arrested, Taheri-azar "encouraged the checking of his apartment." Booker added, "He said it almost in a baiting type of way." Because of those comments, a bomb squad from the State Bureau of Investigation quickly evacuated the building at the University Commons Apartments in Carrboro where Taheri-azar lived, and spent nearly five hours there before declaring the building safe. Local authorities have declined to say what they found in Taheri-azar’s apartment, and investigators continued to search the apartment Friday night for other evidence.

Campus police said that Taheri-azar used an area where pedestrians travel down the side of the cafeteria toward the Pit. There are usually barricades up to prevent cars from entering the area from the parking lots near the library, but on Friday they were not in place. The Pit is a busy center of campus activities, with students often sitting along the walkways and steps on a sunny day. Friday’s noontime crowd included a gathering of candidates for Black Student Movement elections.

Muslim students at UNC last month protested the publication of a cartoon in The Daily Tar Heel student newspaper depicting the prophet Mohammed, similar to the series of cartoons published in European newspapers that sparked violent protests in the Middle East. The Muslim Students Association, a group that was one of the leading critics of the cartoon, said that Taheri-azar had never been a member of the group, and on the group’s website they denounced his actions. "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. "Peace be upon you all."

Authorities say that drugs and alcohol were apparently not involved, and Taheri-azar will be charged with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.