Campus in shock over professor's murder

VESTAL, N.Y. (WIVB) - A student is in custody on Saturday, accused of attacking a professor at Binghamton University.

Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani is the graduate student charged in the murder of his professor.

It happened at Binghamton University at about 1:40 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

Police said 77 year old Richard Antoun was in his campus office when he was stabbed with a knife four times.

A freshman, who is from East Aurora, describes the campus by phone.

"It's a lot more subdued. I think everybody's a lot more careful when they're walking outside."

Al-Zahrani was an anthropology student majoring in Middle Eastern studies.

Witnesses explain that campus police tackled him to the floor in the Science Building, the scene of the stabbing.

"I was completely astonished. I was not only scared but absolutely shocked to hear that somebody on campus had actually gotten stabbed."

It was the same reaction we heard from students at UB.

Kristen Mazurkiewicz, a junior at UB said, "That seems pretty serious. I really wonder why the student was so upset at his professor. Was he just really stressed out from school because this is finals week or around that time?"

Kristen doesn't excuse the stabbing and thinks it's something that can happen anywhere.

But campus officials from UB told News 4 that students should feel safe.

UB Police have emergency response plans in place for scenarios like the one in Binghamton.

That's in addition to other security measures, like security cameras and an alert system.

Daniel Bishop believes he feels protected.

He's a first year graduate student at UB.

"I don't know what runs through a student's mind when he thinks that somehow killing a professor is gonna solve some problems," he remarked.

It's the question everyone is asking and we may never know the answer.

This is the second deadly attack in Broome County in eight months and among a list of troubling events to take place there.