A California college student who wounded four in a campus stabbing spree Wednesday wrote a manifesto including the names of his targets, a vow to “cut someone’s head off” and as many as five reminders to “praise Allah,” police said.
But authorities involved in the investigation maintain that there is no evidence that the stabber, 18-year-old Faisal Mohammad, is tied to a terrorist group or was inspired by terrorists.
“There was nothing to indicate he was doing this because of Allah, or because he was going to be rewarded with 72 virgins, or because of ties to a terror group,” Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke told Fox news.
In the two-page, handwritten document found in Mohammad’s pocket by the county coroner, the University of California Merced freshman wrote a numerical list outlining who he wanted to kill and how, including beheadings and shooting his victims, Mr. Warnke said.
“No. 27 was to ’make sure people are tied down,’ No. 28 was ’sit down and praise Allah,’” Sheriff Warnke told Fox. “I remember seeing four or five times, scribbled on the side of the two-page manifesto, where he wrote something like ’praise Allah.’”
Sheriff Warnke said Mohammad wrote that he wanted to “cut someone’s head off and kill two people with one bullet, and he planned to shoot police.”
Mohammad claimed in his manifesto that he was angry over being kicked out of a study group.
The manifesto has not yet been released, but Sheriff Warnke said he expects it will be within the next few days.
The FBI is investigating whether Mohammad had any terrorist ties, Sheriff Warnke said.
“There was nothing on his computer or in his dorm room or in the manifesto to suggest any ties to terrorism or terrorist groups,” he said.
On Wednesday, Mohammed burst in to a classroom and began slashing and stabbing people with an 8-inch hunting knife.
He injured four people, including two students, a student aide and Byron Price, a 31-year-old construction manager who intervened during the attack.
Mohammed was later shot and killed by police.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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