Bomber's brother arrested in threats

A Colorado Springs man whose brother blew himself up outside the University of Oklahoma football stadium last year has been arrested for allegedly attacking his father and threatening to kill an FBI agent.

Thomas Carlisle Hinrichs, a 25-year-old Pikes Peak Community College student, says he thinks federal officers have harassed him since the Oct. 1, 2005, suicide of his brother, Joel, according to court documents.

He allegedly considered waiting at the FBI office to ambush an agent and also thought about killing his father and high school principal.

Hinrichs was arrested Nov. 15 at Pikes Peak Community College's Rampart Range campus with a Romanian-made assault rifle, bulletproof vest, military helmet, hunting knife and ammunition in the trunk of his car, according to Colorado Springs police.

The arrest came after his father, Joel Henry Hinrichs Jr., told police that Thomas had assaulted him and that he feared his son, whose mental health had deteriorated in the past year, would kill him.

"He believed his son was 'going to blow,'" according to an arrest affidavit.

Hinrichs is being held at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center in lieu of a $25,000 bond.

One year ago, Thomas' younger brother, Joel "Joe" Henry Hinrichs III, detonated a bomb around his neck as he sat outside the packed football stadium where Oklahoma was playing Kansas State. There was speculation that he was trying to set off the bomb in the stadium in a terrorist attack, but FBI investigators found no evidence of any ties to terrorist groups.

His family -- who moved to Colorado Springs from Illinois about seven years ago -- said Joel was severely depressed and lonely, as well as fascinated with ammunition and bombs.

"I was surprised a bit by the details, but on the whole I was not surprised," Thomas Hinrichs told The Gazette in 2005. "He'd always been fascinated with artillery.

"He had real demons that were eating at him, and I told him some things I thought he needed to do, but he had such intense pride it didn't register to him."

The day after his brother's suicide, FBI agents began investigating Thomas in Colorado Springs but closed the case six months later when they concluded Hinrichs had not made any specific threats.

But an agent continued to monitor Hinrichs' behavior on a monthly basis "to ensure that he was not a danger to himself or others," according to the affidavit.

In July, Hinrichs left a phone message for an FBI agent, expressing his anger with the U.S. government and school system, which he blamed for his brother's suicide, according to the affidavit.

He later told police he believed his brother killed himself "because of the abuse he endured while in high school," according to court documents.

Joel Hinrichs graduated from Wasson High School in 2002. It wasn't clear whether Thomas also attended Wasson; offices were closed Wednesday, and records were not available, Colorado Springs School District 11 spokeswoman Elaine Naleski said.

Naleski said she didn't know anything about alleged abuse, but Joel Hinrichs was known as a good student.

In October, Hinrichs allegedly left another message with the FBI, saying, "I will... bury you, do you understand, I will bury you."

On Oct. 31, he had an argument with his father, who said he confronted Thomas about his feelings that the world was out to get him. His son allegedly pushed him backwards in his chair, knocking him onto the floor. "This is what I do to people who lie," he yelled, according to court documents.

The elder Hinrichs told police his son knows right from wrong but has mental health problems.

After receiving the father's report, police arrested Thomas at the college, where he has been a student off and on for the past year.

He told police he was carrying a rifle because federal agents had harassed him and threatened his life. Although he denied planning to use the rifle against "any specific person," he also said he was carrying the weapon because of an FBI agent named "Todd." The affidavit did not give Todd's last name because Hinrichs does not know it, said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver.

"He stated that Todd should be hung from a tree and that he dreamed of seeing Todd hang from a tree," according to the affidavit, which also read that Hinrichs daydreamed about lying in wait at the FBI office and shooting Todd when he arrived at work.

Hinrichs also considered killing his high school principal and his father, according to the affidavit.If convicted of the federal charge, he faces 10 years in prison.

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