MERCED -- It wasn't terrorism, police said, that led Faisal Mohammad to stab four people Wednesday morning on the UC Merced campus. Instead, it was anger from being kicked out of a study group that spurred a horrific plan, which included ambushing police officers and shooting students, according to the Merced County Sheriff.
In a manifesto found in 18-year-old Mohammad's pocket during his autopsy, authorities found a two-page, detailed document that included a list of his targets and his intentions, said Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke. The plan included stabbing a police officer, taking that officer's gun and using it to shoot students. Warnke said Mohammad's motive appeared to have stemmed from anger he felt over being "kicked out of a study group" and that the plan was the result of the teen taking his fury to an "extreme level."
"His intentions were pretty substantial," said Warnke. "It's like a dinner where your eyes are bigger than your stomach. He had visions of grandeur."
Warnke added that there was scripted dialogue in the manifesto that revealed what Mohammad planned to say to students and to police as his plot unfolded. But, Warnke said, things did not go as planned.
"His plan went haywire because people fought back," he said. "That was his bad luck." Mohammad, a recent graduate of Wilcox High in Santa Clara, allegedly smiled as he slashed and stabbed two peers, a construction worker and a staff member before being fatally shot by campus officers Wednesday morning. One person remains hospitalized, and a construction worker is being hailed by authorities as a hero for drawing Mohammad out of the classroom where the attack began and rendering aid to the first victim in the stabbing spree.
During a 1 p.m. news conference Thursday, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said he requested the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to investigate Mohammad, and the result of the federal probe found "nothing to indicate political or religious motivations to what he did."
Warnke said a team of 20 FBI agents conducted the investigation into Mohammad, a UC Merced freshman who graduated in June from Wilcox, and his family. The FBI searched Mohammad's computer, dorm room and social media sites.
"There was absolutely nothing they could find to indicate anything other than his being a college student at UC Merced," Warnke said, adding the attack was the result of "personal animosities."
In the later news conference, Warnke stressed that focusing on Mohammad's religious beliefs would be unfounded.
"There are lots of people of the Muslim faith that are kind, gentle, loving people," Warnke said. "One person (who commits a crime) can't be grouped into that whole."
UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland also stressed that, based on the evidence gathered so far, "we have no reason to believe this was related to terrorism."
...
Warnke said investigators found items in Mohammad's backpack indicating he had "greater intentions to do harm," including zip tie handcuffs, two clear bags holding vasoline, a night vision scope, a single lens scope, a safety hammer device to break windows, two rolls of duct tape and small sections of duct tape.
"Petroleum jelly could be used as an explosive," Warnke said. "We don't know what he was going to do with it. We don't know what his intentions were."
...
Patel said Mohammad was friendly and loved basketball, going to the mosque to pray and playing video games with his friends. He added that Mohammad was smart and got good grades.
...
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-cou...gs-santa-clara
Connect With Us