UC Merced students back in class following stabbing attack

Although the manifesto contained references to Allah, Warnke dismissed the idea that Mohammad was religiously motivated, saying: “His belief was through the Muslim faith, but there’s nothing to indicate other than that”.

“We had a teenager who was upset he was kicked out of a study group”, Warnke said.

Authorities found the teen’s handwritten manifesto during his autopsy, the Merced Sun-Star reported.

“We have a few very fearless students and a courageous construction worker that stopped this from going on”, the sheriff said.

Warnke said Mohammad was carrying plastic zip-tie handcuffs, a hammer, duct tape, a night-vision scope and two bags of petroleum jelly in a backpack. He planned to fake an emergency call and ambush a police officer in an attempt to take his handgun and shoot students in a residence hall. The petroleum jelly was apparently meant to squirt on the floor to cause people to slip.

UC Merced officials said Mohammad entered a classroom on campus shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday and stabbed four people: two students, a staff member and a contractor. “There was zero radar on this fellow”.

Mohammad had written down the names of three students he planned to kill, which weren’t released to the public. His eyes, I could see fear in his eyes.

About Mohammad having been the attacker, Velasquez said: “Why would someone want to do that? I just didn’t expect it to be him”.

The district is providing counselors for students at the school to help provide support following Mohammad’s death, Dericco said.

Two victims were transported to a hospital while the others were treated on campus.

Classes for the university’s 6,700 students resumed Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A university freshman angry that he was kicked out of a study group carried a hunting knife, a backpack full of restraints and a detailed revenge plan into his classroom.

The construction worker, thinking it was a fight, went into the classroom and “ended up stumbling upon the stabbing in progress”. Warnke said the worker’s actions probably saved the life of the first victim.

Police are advising people to avoid coming to campus for the rest of the day.

A background check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into Mohammad and his family from the Santa Clara area found nothing concerning, Warnke said.

“Events like this happen elsewhere, but not at UC Merced, which may be still small in student body but large in its sense of community – yet, it has happened”, Chancellor Dorothy Leland said in a statement on the school website.