Binghampton, New York: A graduate student from Saudi Arabia, Abdul Salam Al Zahrani, has been charged with fatally stabbing a Binghamton University anthropology professor to death.
Al Zahrani, 46, was charged on Saturday with murder in the death of 77-year-old Richard T. Antoun. The professor was stabbed in his campus office on Friday, and the weapon was later recovered, authorities said.
A roommate, Sulaiman Sukho said over the weekend that Al Zahrani came at him with a blade during the three weeks they shared an apartment with a third student, Luis Pena.
Sukho and Pena said they never heard their roommate mention Antoun, who was a professor with the anthropology department, where Al Zahrani was working on a dissertation about early Arabic culture.
Antoun has written several books, including "Understanding Fundamentalism: Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Movements."
Pena says he recalls their roommate sitting on the sofa and suddenly blurting out, "I just feel like destroying the world." According to Sukho, Al Zahrani claimed there were students spying on him and he was being persecuted because he was Muslim.
Another student, Awni Qasaimeh, said Al Zahrani made similar claims in recent days, naming three students he suspected and saying: "Tell these students not to follow me. ... Do not make me trouble."
Broome County District Attorney Gerald Mollen said in a statement that "there is no indication of religious or ethnic motivation." Mollen didn't know whether Al Zahrani had an attorney.
Mollen said Al Zahrani and the professor had "known each other for quite some time."
