FBI: UC Merced stabber was inspired by ISIS

The 18-year old California college student who was gunned down by police after going on a stabbing spree may have had ties to ISIS, according to the FBI.

Faisal Mohammad, of Santa Clara, was a UC Merced freshman who stabbed two students, a university employee and a construction contractor before being killed by police on November 4th of last year.

According to CBS SF Bay Area, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said that Mohammad allegedly wrote a manifesto describing how angry he was after being kicked out of a study group, as well as a plot to use zip-ties to detain his classmates in order to ambush police, ultimately resulting in the death of officers and students he had placed on a “kill list”.

The manifesto was later found on Mohammad’s body.

FBI public affairs specialist Gina Swankie released the following statement on Thursday:

“FBI investigators said they found ‘pro-ISIL propaganda’ on his laptop and evidence that he visited ISIL and other extremist websites in the weeks prior to the attack.

Mohammad apparently planned the attack at least one week before launching it. At the time of the stabbings Mohammad was carrying a backpack containing the manifesto, described as a two-page, hand-written plan detailing his desire to take hostages and kill students and police officers, according to the FBI.”

Mohammad was discovered to have a printout of an ISIS flag and other questionable items in his possession. While it is assumed he worked alone, the FBI says that it may never be known for sure whether or not he had directives from any other terrorists or why he decided to attack the students on campus.

UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland released a statement Thursday regarding the FBI’s investigation:

“We are relieved to finally have resolution to this very tragic event on the UC Merced campus…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.”

UC Merced has a population of over 6,532 students and staff.

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