Campus Alert Archive
UC Merced

Eight Minutes of Terror: UC Merced's Twitter-Driven Lockdown After a Classroom Stabbing Spree

CAstabbingemergency notificationhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

On November 4, 2015, 18-year-old freshman Faisal Mohammad stabbed four people with a hunting knife on the UC Merced campus before being shot and killed by a campus police officer. The attack began at approximately 8:00 a.m. PST in a Classroom Building 2 lecture and continued across campus, prompting an eight-minute lockdown response coordinated largely through Twitter. All four victims survived; the FBI later concluded Mohammad acted alone but had been inspired by ISIL propaganda.

Alerts
4
Response
10 min
Killed
0
Injured
4
Institution
University of California, Merced
Public R1 · CA
~7,000 studentsUC Merced Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

4 messages in sequence · 4 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTTwitter/X
Verified verbatimWikipedia / UC Merced Twitter feed86 chars
Campus is locked down. Do not come to campus. If you're on campus, stay where you are.
Posted on the official UC Merced Twitter account approximately 10 minutes after the attack began at 8:00 a.m. PST on November 4, 2015
Twitter-first alert sequence reflects UC Merced's then-newer campus and emphasis on social media as a primary notification channel
Two-sentence structure addresses both off-campus and on-campus populations in a single message
UPDATETwitter/X+1h 5m
Verified verbatimWikipedia / UC Merced Twitter feed62 chars
Campus is closed. Classes are canceled. Do not come to campus.
Sent after the suspect was confirmed dead but before victims' conditions were known
Repeats the 'Do not come to campus' instruction verbatim from the first alert, providing consistency
Class cancellation message functions as a partial all-clear without lifting all restrictions
UPDATETwitter/X+3h 20m
Verified verbatimUC Merced Newsroom100 chars
Though there is no active danger, getting on and off campus is difficult. Please stay where you are.
First message to acknowledge 'no active danger' while still maintaining shelter instructions due to logistical constraints
Reflects UC Merced's geographic isolation; the campus has limited road access from CA-99
Distinguishes safety risk from operational congestion, an unusual nuance for emergency alerts
ALL CLEARTwitter/X+5h 50m
Verified verbatimWikipedia / UC Merced Twitter feed77 chars
Students, faculty and staff are allowed to leave campus. Avoid Scholars Lane.
Final message lifting movement restrictions while maintaining a perimeter around Scholars Lane, where the suspect was shot
Scholars Lane runs through the heart of UC Merced's compact main campus
Sent approximately six hours after the initial lockdown began
Context

Background

The UC Merced stabbing attack was the first major campus violence incident at UC's youngest campus, which had opened in 2005. Faisal Mohammad, an 18-year-old computer science and engineering freshman from Santa Clara, had been removed from a study group days earlier; investigators later found a two-page handwritten plan in his backpack that listed targets, zip ties, and the names of police officers he intended to kill. The attack began inside a Classroom Building 2 lecture, where Mohammad stabbed a fellow student before fleeing across campus and attacking three more people, including construction worker Byron Price, who has been credited with saving lives by tackling the suspect. Mohammad was shot and killed by UC Merced Police Officer Hugo Bracamontes at approximately 8:18 a.m. The university's response leaned heavily on Twitter, which functioned as the primary public-facing alert channel. The FBI later released Mohammad's manifesto and concluded he had been inspired by ISIL propaganda but acted alone with no foreign or domestic ties.
Analysis

Key Findings

Twitter-first alert sequencing was unusual for 2015 and reflected UC Merced's status as a digitally native campus
All four victims survived in part because of a construction worker (Byron Price) who tackled the attacker
The eight-minute interval between attack onset and first public alert is comparable to best-in-class response times
The alert sequence distinguished between active danger and operational congestion, a nuance often missing from campus alerts
FBI investigation revealed substantial pre-attack planning, including a written manifesto with targets and ISIL imagery
Outcome
Suspect Faisal Mohammad shot and killed by UC Merced police officer at 8:18 a.m. PST. Four victims (two students, one staff member, one construction worker) treated and recovered. Classes canceled the following day. FBI investigation revealed manifesto, ISIL flag, and pre-attack planning notes in suspect's backpack.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Source
    University of California, Merced stabbing attack (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
  2. Official
    UPDATE: Four Stabbed on UC Merced Campus, Suspect Deceased (UC Merced Newsroom)
    news.ucmerced.edu
  3. Report
    Update on Investigation at University of California, Merced (FBI)
    fbi.gov
  4. News
    UC Merced stabbing: Student fatally shot after stabbing 4 (CNN)
    cnn.com
Tags
stabbingactive-attackercampus-lockdowntwitter-alertuc-systemcaliforniamercedisil-inspireducpd
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion