Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, a Saudi Arabian graduate student at Binghamton University, has been charged with second-degree murder after allegedly stabbing to death anthropology professor Richard Antoun, an Arab American, on Dec. 4.

Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani mug shots

No motive for the crime has yet been identified.
Al-Zahrani’s roommates have told law enforcement and reporters that the suspect complained frequently and assertively of financial and academic problems and that he had been acting strangely.

“I would think it was because of the whole dissertation being rejected, but I cannot confirm it. He had issues with his financials.

“I don’t know what he had against that professor,” roomate Luis Pena told a local news station.

Professor Richard Antoun

The 77-year-old professor emeritus was stabbed four times in his office.
Antoun was a sociocultural anthropologist whose scholarly work focused on comparative religion, Islamic law and ethics and tribal law in the Middle East.

“A professor of anthropology, he touched the lives of many students and was respected by his colleagues,” said New York Governor David Paterson. “Though he will be missed on campus, he will live on in his writing, his research and in his students, whose lives he forever changed.”