Murad Dervish (left) and Thomas Meixner. (Image of Dervish via University of Arizona Police; image of Meixner via University of Arizona)
When cops arrested Murad Dervish for murder last year, he allegedly voiced hope that the victim, University of Arizona Professor Thomas Meixner, was “okay.” But police interview footage shows the suspect with a jocular, even proud demeanor as law enforcement tried to get him to confess. He refused to talk to them without a lawyer, but the camera continued to roll as investigators stepped out.
“Well, at least I fulfilled my mission,” he said, alone in the room.
According to cops in Tucson, Arizona, Dervish showed up at the University of Arizona’s John W. Harshbarger Building on Oct. 5, 2022. Someone called the cops on him because he was not supposed to be there.
The school had expelled him and banned him from campus months earlier. Staff received an email in February 2022, featuring his picture and a warning about him.
The incident on Oct. 5 allegedly escalated to Dervish shooting and killing Dr. Thomas Meixner of the Department of Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences.
Dervish also hurt another person with bullet fragments, officers said. He fled the scene, later leading officers in a chase down Highway 85 until law enforcement stopped him with a PIT maneuver, according to investigators.
Meixner was pronounced dead at a hospital. Dervish had shot him four times with a 9 mm handgun. There were 11 shell casings in the office where he was shot, officers said.
“I hope he’s okay,” Dervish told police during his arrest, according to documents obtained by KOLD. “Probably wishful thinking.”
Another alleged comment made the motive pretty clear.
“I just felt so disrespected by that whole department,” he allegedly said.
Dervish simply said “okay,” when an officer told him about charging him with first-degree murder, as seen on video newly reported by 3TV/CBS5.
“You look surprised by that,” the officer said.
Dervish pretty much stonewalled the police.
“We have quite a bit of evidence, and I think you know what that evidence is,” the officer said.
“Well, it’s a shame we can’t talk,” Dervish said. “We seem like we have a lot in common. Going to U of A, living in San Diego.”
The officer told Dervish they found a gun in his car.
“I’m sure you would like to hear it,” the defendant said.
He told police they will hear his story in court.
Dervish faces a count each of first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His father said Dervish had a lengthy history of violence, including attacking him with a crowbar, according to The Arizona Daily Star. The defendant also once tried to strangle his own mother with a scarf, the father reportedly said.
The school mourned Meixner.
“We have reached out to Dr. Meixner’s family, and ask that their grief and privacy be respected,” University President Robert C. Robbins said in a statement after the shooting. “This incident is a deep shock to our community, and it is a tragedy. I have no words that can undo it, but I grieve with you for the loss, and I am pained especially for Tom’s family members, colleagues and students. I encourage you to have compassion for one another and to care for yourselves and those around you during this difficult time.”
“Tom Meixner grew up in Maryland playing in streams and digging in the garden. He has matured to the point where he now gets paid to occasionally play in streams and still gardens on his own time,” said the tongue-in-cheek beginning of Meixner’s biography on a university website. “Tom got a BS in Soils and a BA in the History of Science at the University of Maryland. He then matriculated at the University of Arizona as a PhD student in hydrology and Water Resources. He received his PhD in 1999 with work focused on Alpine Biogeochemistry. He then took a job as an Assistant Professor at the University of California Riverside in the Department of Environmental Sciences. After 6 years there transforming himself to a biogeochemical modeler working on alpine and semi-arid systems he was hired at the University of Arizona as an associate professor in Hydrology and Water Resources. He continues to focus his research on the dynamic links between hydrologic transport and biogeochemistry.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
