On Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ruled that the college student who stabbed four people before he was shot down was inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) but he acted alone.
The student, 18 year-old Faisal Mohammed was reportedly self-radicalized but was motivated by terrorist propaganda that he found online before he initiated the November 4th attack at the University of California, Merced.
A spokeswoman for the FBI’s Sacramento field office said:
“Every indication is that Mohammad acted on his own. It may never be possible to definitively determine why he chose to attack people on the U.C. Merced Campus.”
The attack happened just one month before a husband and wife duo killed 14 people and wounded 21 others. In the San Bernardino shooting, investigators said the duo was influenced by ISIS, but not directly linked to the group. Investigators say that like the San Bernardino shooting, Mohammad had not raised any flags that would have put him on watch list.
At U.C. Merced, Mohamed went into a classroom and stabbed two students. Mohammad then stabbed a construction worker before running from the building. Mohammad knifed a school employee who was sitting on a bench before police shot and killed Mohammad.
Mohammad was a college freshman from Santa Clara, California and the FBI reported that he had visited ISIS run websites and other extremist groups. They also said that he had planned his attack a week before carrying it out.
Mohammad was carrying a backpack containing a two-page set of plans that said he would bind students to desks with zip-ties handcuffs, and then make a fake 911 distress call so that he could ambush officers with a hunting knife to steal their guns, and then kill his classmates.
The backpack also contained a photocopy of an ISIS flag as well as a list of items he would need to carry out the attack.
According to Daniel Mayfield, the attorney who represent Mohammad’s relatives. The family is in the dark about what prompted their sons violent outburst just days after turning 18.
Attorney Daniel Mayfield also said:
“This is not the Faisal the family knew and loved and sent off to the university.”
As for the UC Merced campus, Chancellor Dorothy Leland said:
“While I shared your desire for a quicker resolution, we are better served by law enforcement’s completion of its investigation in due course… I am proud of the way our campus community came together in the aftermath of this incident… Now, we move to the task of further healing and taking care of the needs of our students, staff and faculty.”
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There is not doubt that this investigation will only further the idea of deportation suggested by some presidential, but it is up to the individual to decide whether you agree with the deportation proposed or not.
Image via CBS
