UC Merced 2015 campus rampage: FBI releases student’s plan to kill several people, police

The written attack plan of a UC Merced student who went on a stabbing rampage on the campus in 2015 has been released by the FBI.

The document, first reported in The Daily Beast, sheds more light on the events leading up to the Nov. 4, 2015 attack perpetrated by Faisal Mohammad, 18, a computer science major witnesses described as troubled and angry with classmates.

Originally from Santa Clara, Mohammad used a black 10-inch knife he purchased online to stab four people before he was shot twice and killed by a UC Merced police officer.

Mohammad’s family had previously filed a restraining order against the release of his handwritten “manifesto” and the picture of an Isil flag investigators have said were in his possession. Isil is another name from Isis or the Islamic State.

What the plan says

The pages released by the FBI include a 31-step plan, handwritten by Mohammad, about how he planned to execute the attack that day.

The document can be viewed in its entirety below, beginning on page 241.

The steps include multiple Islamic references, with Mohammad planning to start his attack by looking both ways and saying the word “bismillah” (which means “in the name of Allah”).

The steps show that Mohammad planned to enter the campus classroom and order someone to zip-tie his victims’ hands behind their backs within seven minutes.

He planned to hang up the flag, tape his victims’ mouths and “praise Allah” while “slitting” their throats, the plan says.

Mohammad then planned to call 911 and say there was a “guy inside acting crazy” who wanted to kill himself.

The document showed Mohammad wanted to go even further once law enforcement arrived, going behind an officer and slitting his throat. He then planned to use a gun to kill many other people.

Mohammad’s detailed plan ends with him reading a Quaran “until you hear sirens.” He then planned to take cover and draw a gun, saying the words “La ilaah ilaa Allah (“There is no god but Allah”).

From there, Mohammad planned to “peek (his) head over, take calm shot after shot.”

Officer stopped Mohammad

Mohammad stabbed two students, a UC employee and a contractor working on campus that day.

Before he could go further, however, he was shot to death by UC Merced Officer Olaf Lopez.

Lopez was on his final day of “shadowed” training, which means he was in uniform and being followed by a training officer on the day of the shooting, the reports say.

He and the training officer responded to the area of the campus called Scholars Lane after reports of the stabbing came over their radios.

Witnesses told investigators they heard the officer say “get down on the ground” about four times as Mohammad faced the officers, the knife raised over his head.

Lopez shot Mohammad twice, once in the groin and once in the left chest cavity, the reports said.

The officers did not administer life-saving efforts and Mohammad was pronounced dead at the scene, police reports say.

Lopez was determined to be justified in the shooting of Mohammad, according to the Merced County District Attorney’s Office. He was later honored by the state Assembly.

This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 7:58 AM.