Updated 9:45 a.m. Nov. 6

By University Communications

Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke held a press conference Thursday evening, Nov. 5, regarding a two-page “manifesto” found in the pocket of Faisal Mohammad, the suspect in Wednesday’s stabbing incident on the UC Merced campus.
 
The handwritten note included a detailed plan, Warnke said, indicating Mohammad intended to wreak considerably more havoc than what occurred. Warnke reiterated that the FBI has found no indication that the attack was an act of terrorism or in any way politically motivated.
 
“He had gotten kicked out of a study group and was upset with one of the students, and he took his anger to the extreme level,” Warnke said.
 
The incident began during a class in the Classroom and Office Building shortly before 8 a.m. Wednesday. According to the manifesto, Mohammad intended to bind students with zip-tie handcuffs, spread petroleum jelly on the floor to slow responders, steal a police officer’s gun, and then move on to the campus residence halls to cause more mayhem.
 
Instead, Mohammad stabbed two people in the classroom before students began to intervene. He fled the scene and was slowed again by a construction worker, then was shot by campus police. Mohammad later died from his injuries.
 
The construction worker and one staff member were stabbed, in addition to the two students. All victims are expected to recover from their injuries.
 
“The plan went haywire because people fought back — that was (Mohammad’s) bad luck,” Warnke said. “We have some very brave students and a brave construction worker that stopped this from going on.”
 
Warnke also praised the UC Merced Police Department, who responded quickly and ensured the incident was over in “probably less than two minutes, start to finish.”
 
“What a wonderful testament to the professionalism and the capabilities of that police department out there,” Warnke said. “They had this in control and neutralized before the first outside unit got on scene.”
 
While the campus community has been shaken by Mohammad’s violent act, Warnke said Chancellor Dorothy Leland’s commitment to safety and the police department’s quick response should be points of pride.
 
“(Leland) thinks of every one of those thousands of children as hers,” he said. “The way this was handled proves this is still a very safe campus.”