A graduate student from Saudi Arabia, Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, has been charged with fatally stabbing a Binghamton University anthropology professor to death. Al-Zahrani, 46, was charged Saturday with murder in the death of 77-year-old Richard T. Antoun. The professor was stabbed in his campus office Friday, and the weapon was later recovered, authorities said. A roommate, Souleyman 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. – AP 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.”
