The student who is accused of stabbing four people at the University of California was said to be carrying a printout of an Islamic State flag during the attack last week.
It was found among Faisal Mohammad’s belongings, which also included a handwritten two-page note, a police source told the Merced Sun Star, which reported that the significance of those items was still being investigated.
Mohammad was shot and killed by a campus police officer after stabbing two students, a construction worker and a university employee.
His family released a statement expressing their sympathy for the victims.
In their first comments since last week’s attack, the family of Faisal Mohammad, described the freshman from Santa Clara, California, as a ‘kind and respectful young man’.
‘He was always quiet and humble and excelled in school and academics. His teachers and friends always spoke well of him,’ said the statement released through San Jose attorney Daniel Mayfield.
Authorities have said that Mohammad had no previous run-ins with police and no clues in his past behavior to indicate that he would try to kill his classmates as revenge for being kicked out of a study group.
The FBI’s Sacramento office issued a statement reiterating that Mohammad had not been on the agency’s radar before the stabbings ‘occurred without warning or advance indication.
