Expert: UC Merced attack shows Islamic State’s social media reach

Law enforcement officials believe the stabbing attack at UC Merced and the December massacre in San Bernardino were done by lone wolves inspired by the Islamic State group, and counterterrorism experts say both show how the organization is expanding its reach through social media.

Recruitment videos the extremists post online are often short and flashy. They feature hip-hop music, promise a chance to be part of a global cause and, experts say, most importantly target a vulnerable audience.

“For somebody searching for meaning and feeling disconnected, that’s a very powerful message, and difficult to resist,” said John Cohen, a criminal justice professor at Rutgers University and formerly the Department of Homeland Security’s counterterrorism coordinator.

That’s how Faisal Mohammad, an 18-year-old UC Merced freshman from Santa Clara, appears to have become self-radicalized. The FBI says he visited Islamic State websites for several weeks before he wounded four people in the Nov. 4 knife attack. A campus police officer shot and killed him.

Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said the Internet was Mohammad’s “sole source” of information regarding terrorism. The sheriff said he was confident there were no missed warning signs that could have prevented November’s violence.

Investigators have described Mohammad as a troubled, isolated young man who knew few people on campus. They believe that, in planning how to stage his attack, he may have sought to model his behavior on the extremist group.

A month later, the gun-wielding husband-and-wife team in San Bernardino shot and killed 14 people and wounded 21 others during a work luncheon. Investigators say they also were influenced by the Islamic State group, but not directly connected to it.

“The Internet enables people who aren’t necessarily able to function well in a group to claim at least that they’re inspired by an ideology,” said Jessica Stern, a research professor at the Pardee School for Global Studies at Boston University.

Mohammad had been shunned by a study group at UC Merced, where he was majoring in computer science, authorities have said, and Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, launched the San Bernardino attack with his wife against a group of his colleagues from the San Bernardino County health department.

“More must be done to combat jihadists’ narrative and their use of the Internet to radicalize, recruit and fundraise,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from Bakersfield. He cited two dozen Islamic State-inspired plots in the United States since 2014.

Lone-wolf attacks carried out in this country are a “Western luxury,” said Max Abrahms, a political science professor at Northeastern University. He says it’s a sign that there are not large terrorists groups carrying out attacks.

But he agrees that isolated attacks are likely to increase as the Islamic State is increasingly under fire in its strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

“Islamic State is going to continue to decentralize as it gets battered,” Abrahms said. “The Internet isn’t going away. The group is going to call upon locals to commit attacks.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Expert: UC Merced attack shows Islamic State’s social media reach."