Man who stabbed four at California school inspired by Islamic State, FBI says

A man who wounded four people at UC Merced last year appears to have been inspired by the militant group Islamic State but acted alone, the FBI said Thursday.

The FBI released a statement saying a review of the attacker’s electronic devices found that he drew inspiration from terrorist propaganda and may have been “self-radicalized.”

“His laptop contained pro-ISIL propaganda, and he had visited ISIL and other extremist websites in the weeks prior to his attack,” the agency said, using an acronym for Islamic State. “The FBI uncovered information that indicated Faisal Mohammad began his preparations for the attack at least one week prior to the assault. During this investigation no information has been developed that Mohammad was working with, or directed by, anyone in conducting this attack.”

Mohammad, 18, stabbed four people at UC Merced before being shot and killed by police in November.

Investigators found a “two-page, handwritten manifesto” in the assailant’s pocket during an autopsy, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said at a news conference. The document detailed an elaborate “script” for the attack, Warnke said.

Mohammad, a freshman, had planned to go into the classroom on the second floor of the Classroom and Office Building and tie his classmates’ hands with zip-tie handcuffs and force another student to help him do so, Warnke said. Mohammad listed some students by name.

He then planned to put petroleum jelly into clear bags, cut holes in the bags and squirt the substance onto the floor, making “kind of a slip-and-slide” that would make it difficult for anyone who entered the room, Warnke said.

In the note, Mohammad said he anticipated a confrontation with police officers and planned to steal an officer’s gun before leaving the classroom to “do other tragedies on campus,” the sheriff said.

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