Ex-Grad Pupil Held in Arizona Professor’s Deadly Taking pictures

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A former University of Arizona graduate pupil arrested within the deadly taking pictures of a hydrology professor was being held with out bond Friday after a decide dominated there was sufficient proof to attempt him on fees of first diploma homicide and aggravated assault.

An interim grievance within the case launched Friday says Thomas Meixner, who headed the varsity’s Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, was shot 4 instances on Wednesday afternoon. The taking pictures occurred contained in the Harshbarger Building, which homes the hydrology division. Meixner was pronounced lifeless at a hospital.

According to the grievance, a second particular person, whose identify was blacked out, was handled on the scene after being struck by a bullet fragment.

The grievance signed by a decide late Thursday at Pima County Justice Court stated there was cheap trigger to proceed within the case towards 46-year-old Murad Dervish. In Arizona, fees will not be filed till a preliminary listening to takes place, and there was no phrase on when that may occur.

The Pima County Public Defender’s Office confirmed it acquired the case however has not but assigned an legal professional who can converse on Dervish’s behalf.

Campus police stated the taking pictures occurred after a feminine known as 911 round 2 p.m. Wednesday asking for police to escort a former pupil from the Harshbarger Building. Officers had been on their approach after they acquired reviews {that a} man had shot somebody then fled.

Campus alerts instructed folks to keep away from the realm, which was below lockdown. Classes, actions and different campus occasions had been canceled for the remainder of the day.

State troopers arrested Dervish a number of hours later about 120 miles (190 kilometers) northwest of the Tucson campus.

The grievance stated officers discovered a 9mm handgun within the car, together with ammunition in keeping with the 11 casings discovered on the taking pictures scene.

The relationship between Dervish and Meixner stays unclear, however the interim grievance stated a flyer with {a photograph} of Dervish, a former graduate pupil, had been circulated to college workers in February with directions to name 911 if he ever entered the constructing. It additionally stated he was “expelled” and “barred from being on University of Arizona property.”

“Dervish has been the topic of a number of reviews of harassment and threats to workers members working at Harshbarger,” the grievance stated.

The college introduced a candlelight vigil could be held in Meixner’s honor at 8 p.m. Friday on the Old Main veranda. University President Robert C. Robbins was amongst these scheduled to speak.

Meixner was an professional on desert water points. Faculty and former college students described as a sort and sensible colleague.

“This incident is a deep shock to our neighborhood, and it’s a tragedy,” Robbins stated in an announcement late Wednesday.

Meixner earned a doctorate in hydrology and water assets from the college in 1999 and joined the college in 2005 earlier than turning into the division head in 2019.

Twenty years in the past this month, a disgruntled University of Arizona nursing pupil shot and killed three nursing professors earlier than taking his personal life.

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