SUV Crashes into Students at UNC

In what appears to be a deliberate assault, a man driving an SUV crashed through a student area at the University of North Carolina injuring several people. See if you notice anything else interesting about this story:

A University graduate with at least one prior careened a rented silver Jeep Grand Cherokee through the Pit about noon Friday, striking nine pedestrians and sending six to UNC Hospitals with minor injuries.

Mohammed Reza Taheriazar, 22, of 3125 English Sparrow Lane in Charlotte, who graduated in 2005, is still in custody at the Department of Public Safety after turning himself in after the incident. DPS spokesman Randy Young said he will be transferred, likely to the Orange County Jail, but did not say when that would be. He was still at the jail as of 5:40 p.m.

Taheriazar was born May 5, 1983, according to University registrar records. He was a psychology and philosophy major. He was cited in The Charlotte Observer for dean's list honors in spring 2005. He is still listed as a senior in the print directory.

The Pit incident was just the start of a long afternoon of tension. Carrboro police officials, a bomb squad and Hazmat team, in addition to state and federal bureaus of investigation have been staked out at the University Commons apartments building D, at 303 Smith Level Road since 2 p.m.

A bomb threat was called into the buiding, where Taheriazar is believed to now live. No counter-terrorist agents are present, said Capt. Joel Booker, of the Carrboro Police Department.

The bomb squad, Hazmat officials and other personnel entered the building at 5:28 p.m. A loud boom was just heard from the building but no incident has been reported.

The story doesn't make any attempt to identify the student's nationality (I'm guessing Iranian by the name), but with a first name like Mohammed, many thoughts come to mind. Could this be a terrorist attack by a radical Islamist, an attack for other reasons, or just really bad driving? I think we can rule out the third option:

"He slowly came in, and I thought he was going to stop or something," said sophomore Scott Wilson, who was campaigning for BSM vice president. "But then he sped right through."

The scene was frantic, with hundreds of students and community members struggling to find out what happened.

Senior Foster Kyei said Taheriazar entered the Pit slowly, then accelerated through the main section in front of Lenoir.

It'll be interesting to see what comes of the investigation. Some are speculating that this may have something to do with the campus newspaper publishing the Danish cartoons.

UPDATE: This was a radical Islamic attack:

Sources say Taheriazar told police he was seeking retribution for the treatment of Muslims around the world, according to ABC News justice correspondent Pierre Thomas. Taheriazar apparently told police he tried to rent the biggest SUV he could find to use in the attack.