BINGHAMTON UPDATE - AT 8:01 A.M. ET:  We erred this morning in saying there was no detailed update on the Binghamton, New York, murder of a professor by a Muslim graduate student.  It turns out that The New York Times did do a respectable update - although buried on its website - which revealed that authorities had been warned about the killer:

The suspect, Abdulsalam S. al-Zahrani, 46, remained held without bail on Sunday, charged with second-degree murder in the death of the professor, Richard T. Antoun...

...On Sunday, Mr. Zahrani’s roommates — who had lived with him for about three weeks in a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Binghamton — recounted how the suspect, who spoke of financial problems, often mentioned death and said he was being persecuted because he was Muslim.

“I said he was acting oddly, like a terrorist,” said one of the roommates, Souleymane Sakho, a graduate student from Senegal. “When I informed them, it was for them to understand that the guy was violent or he may be violent.”

Mr. Sakho said that he told his academic adviser who is overseeing his dissertation about Mr. Zahrani, and that the adviser referred him to the school’s counseling center. Mr. Sakho said that the head of the counseling center told him to avoid interaction with Mr. Zahrani and said he should look to move out of the apartment.

Another example of an academic institution swinging into action.

A spokesman for Binghamton University declined to comment on what university officials may have been told by Mr. Sakho about Mr. Zahrani’s behavior, citing a continuing investigation by the district attorney of Broome County.

Naturally.

About 10 days ago, the police were called to the three-bedroom apartment, according to Mr. Sakho. He said he was sick of Mr. Zahrani’s constantly asking him if he was afraid of death and told him to stop. Later that night, Mr. Sakho said he told his other roommate, Luis Pena, also a graduate student, that he “had enough of the situation.” Hearing them, Mr. Zahrani came out of his bedroom and accused Mr. Sakho of threatening him, Mr. Sakho said.

“I’m not the kind of person to make threats because I am a peaceful person,” said Mr. Sakho, recalling the conversation. “I just want you to stop what you are doing.”

Mr. Zahrani then called the Binghamton police, who arrived at the apartment several minutes later, Mr. Sakho said.

“I came out and wanted to explain what Zahrani was doing and they told me to go back to my room,” Mr. Sakho said.

COMMENT:  Does this sound familiar?  There had been plenty of warnings about Major Hasan, late of Fort Hood, as well.  Nothing was done, possibly because of political correctness.  Now we know the result.

And we see that there had been warnings in Binghamton.  Nothing was done. 

Political correctness?  We'll see, but it should certainly not be ruled out.

December 7, 2009