Six people had been released from UNC Hospitals by Friday evening. None was seriously injured, university officials said. The three others declined to be treated.

According to the Associated Press, suspect Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22, a native of Iran, "allegedly made statements that he acted to avenge the American treatment of Muslims," FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said. "The ongoing investigation will work to confirm this."

Witnesses saw the sport utility vehicle approach The Pit, the student hub outside the Student Union, at 11:53 a.m. The driver accelerated along the edge of the sunken plaza, before speeding away.

Taheri-azar (ta-hur-eh-ZAR) then called 911, telling police to come get him. He surrendered without incident at Plant and Hillview roads about two miles away, near University Mall, according to police.

UNC-CH police said they would charge Taheri-azar, of 303 Smith Level Road, Apt. D34, Carrboro, with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill.

About 30 minutes after the incident, Carrboro police began evacuating the University Commons apartment complex where the 2005 UNC-CH graduate lives with two roommates.

"He made comments and said things regarding where he lives and things he may have that put us in concern for safety," Capt. Joel Booker of the Carrboro Police Department said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Bureau of Investigation and other local emergency agencies, including a bomb squad, joined police at the apartment complex at Smith Level and BPW Club roads.

Niralee Shah, a senior at UNC-CH, had just woke up from a nap when a man in a helmet and vest with a large gun banged on her door. When she opened it, Shah said, he grabbed her by the arm and said she had to leave.

Shah quickly grabbed her shoes and coat and joined other residents outside the building.

From about 100 feet away, Shah watched with others as police aimed guns at a third-floor apartment in Building D while they crouched behind a car they used as a barricade.

Students were allowed back into the complex about 8:30 p.m., even as police continued searching Taheri-azar's apartment.

"At this point we do not feel there is any more concern for public safety," Booker said. "No bomb, nothing like that."

Dual-major graduate

Taheri-azar was not part of the UNC-CH Muslim Students Association, and a student who participated in a recent sit-in at The Daily Tar Heel office protesting the newspaper's publishing of a cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed said Taheri-azar was not part of the protest.

"We absolutely condemn any kind of violence," said freshman Salma Mirza 18. "I hope those were not his motivations.

"Islam is a religion of peace," she added. The majority of Muslims on campus condemn violence, she said.

Gordon Pitz, a psychology professor, taught Taheri-azar in two classes. "I just fell over," he said about hearing the news.

Taheri-azar stood out in Pitz's Decision Theory and Research Methods classes, but nothing would have predicted Friday's incident, the professor said.

"This is a class of about 200 people. Of those, probably about 150 I never get to know. Mohammed I did get to know," Pitz said.

"He was one of those students who was very assertive in asking questions," Pitz explained. "He obviously cared a lot about his performance. Even in the very large class I taught, he was very willing to ask questions and get involved in discussions."

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