STUDENT ALLEGEDLY TARGETED AT LEAST 3
Saudi student at UNM kept a mental list of those “who had slighted him,” FBI says.
Hassan Alqahtani kept a mental kill list that contained the names of at least three people “who had slighted him,” an FBI agent testified Monday morning.
The 27-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen had been studying mechanical engineering at the University of New Mexico and was set to graduate over the weekend. Instead, he ended up in federal custody after authorities reportedly found a handgun in his closet and filed a complaint accusing him of illegally possessing a firearm.
Ahmad Assed, one of Alqahtani’s attorneys, said Monday that the case is essentially “a crazy story that has mushroomed into something it really is not.” The case relies on confidential sources and has no tangible evidence, he said, and he does not believe his client will face any additional charges.
An affidavit filed in Alqahtani’s case says the National Threat Operations Center received a tip that Alqahtani “was creating a ‘list of people who he wants to kill before he leaves the U.S.’”
According to testimony at a preliminary and detention hearing Monday morning in U.S. District Court, the government believes at least three people were on that list: the tipster who contacted the center, a professor and a former roommate.
Special Agent Jonathan Labuhn said the tipster reported having an argument with Alqahtani that ended in a physical altercation. Afterward, the tipster sent Alqahtani a text message saying he could put him back on his kill list.
The professor believed to be on the list had given Alqahtani a grade he was unhappy with on a test or paper, Labuhn said. Alqahtani accused the professor of being sexist and grading female students easier than male students.
Labuhn offered less information on the
third member of the list, who had once been Alqahtani’s roommate.
“First of all it’s clear that there isn’t any kind of tangible object that’s referred to as a list,” Assed said. “Secondly, there’s an allegation that the government brought forward that in an exchange between my client and a confidential source, the term ‘put me back on the list’ was initiated by the confidential source and not by my client.”
Labuhn also said that when agents executed a search warrant on Thursday they found a gun stowed in a hanging shoe holder in a closet. Alqahtani is in the United States on a student visa, and is not allowed to have a firearm.
Alqahtani’s wife, who had a black eye, said the gun was hers after initially denying that there were any firearms in their home. Although she said she’d been injured in a bike crash, agents noticed the bike she said she had been riding had flat tires and was covered in spider webs. The agent said that the woman’s family reported prior domestic violence. Labuhn said he believes the woman is afraid of her husband. Assed denied those allegations. Alqahtani’s defense team will have the opportunity to cross examine Labuhn when the hearing resumes Tuesday afternoon. The judge agreed to a delay after the defense asked the government for additional documents and the government requested time to redact them.