Warrant cites long planning

Police say Mohammed Taheri-azar had been preparing for weeks to run down students

For two months, Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar had been planning to drive a rented sport utility vehicle through a lunchtime campus crowd, hitting people, police wrote in a search warrant released Tuesday.

In picking a time and spot teeming with people and a vehicle that could "run over things and keep going," the 2005 UNC-Chapel Hill graduate wanted to inflict serious harm as revenge for the United States "killing his people across the sea," said Detective Matthew Dodson of the UNC-CH Department of Public Safety, according to the warrant.

He even brought two cans of pepper spray and a 5-inch folding knife in case he got trapped or threatened, the warrant said.

Right before noon Friday, police say, Taheri-azar executed his plan, driving a rented Jeep Grand Cherokee through walkways near a campus hub, hitting nine people, though none were seriously injured. Six were treated at UNC Hospitals; three declined treatment.

Taheri-azar called 911 to turn himself in a few minutes later. He is charged with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

"Taheri-Azar told Dodson it was 'an eye for an eye,' " the warrant stated, adding "he was disappointed there were not more people in the pit when the attack occurred."

In court Monday, Taheri-azar, a native of Iran who grew up mostly in the Charlotte area and is an American citizen, repeatedly mentioned Allah, at one point saying Allah would be his attorney. He is being held at Raleigh's Central Prison in lieu of $5.5 million bail.

According to a former college roommate, Taheri-azar's religious fervor developed relatively recently.

Dan Van Atta said the last time he met with Taheri-azar, "It was as if he had just found religion."

"He was really at peace with himself when I talked with him last," he added.

A student leader

A 2001 yearbook from South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte depicted an active teenager involved in sports, volunteerism and academics.

Yearbook pictures show Taheri-azar smiling with short black hair combed over his forehead. Another picture shows the teen racing his Mitsubishi Eclipse at a drag strip in Fayetteville. He was secretary of tutoring for Spanish his senior year and a member of the "Sabres" high school football team. In the ninth grade, he was student council president.

His junior and senior years, Taheri-azar belonged to the National Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society.

School officials declined to talk about the 2001 graduate.

Police seized from Taheri-azar's Carrboro apartment a white envelope containing a letter he wrote, computer equipment, two Navy SEAL Team Combat course videotapes and a gun permit application, among other items.

In his 911 call, Taheri-azar said he left a one-page letter on his bed explaining why he drove through campus aiming his SUV at people. "Really it's to punish the government of the United States for their actions around the world," he said.

In addition to the charges Taheri-azar already faces from the state, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether federal charges will be filed against him, said Ken Lucas, FBI spokesman in Charlotte.

The investigation aims to find out "everything about him, his motives and thought process," Lucas said. "We take this very, very seriously, especially this case."

Regardless of whether he is charged with an act of terrorism, one local expert said Taheri-azar's actions theoretically fit the bill.

"Terrorism is an act of violence against non-combatants designed to instill fear for a political purpose," said David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University and UNC-CH.

Schanzer said that the actions Taheri-azar is accused of fit that definition.

A politically motivated violent act "in a way is more frightening," he said. "It induces more fear that there might be others that might be so motivated."

(Staff writer Jane Stancill contributed to this report.)