Do you remember hearing or reading about someone who knifed four people on the University of California, Merced campus recently? Who was then shot dead by police? Why should I have to go to a British paper - the Daily Mail (U.K.) - to learn the knife-wielder was a freshman engineering student named Faisal Mohammad?
Can Palestinian knife attacks on Israelis, much in the news recently, have been an inspiration to this kid? It seems a logical conclusion.
I presume his identity was suppressed locally in order to avoid the appearance of Islamophobia. And it's reported the bomb squad detonated a mysterious something from his backpack, which also contained duct tape, zip-tie handcuffs, and a hammer.
In my 30+ years as a professor, I wondered if I'd encounter something like this on my campus. Happily, I did not. Hat tip to the late broadcaster Paul Harvey for popularizing "the rest of the story."
