Apple provided the Department of Justice investigators almost no help as they worked to collect cell phone data from the Pensacola, Florida shooter’s iPhone, federal …
Apple provided the Department of Justice investigators almost no help as they worked to collect cell phone data from the Pensacola, Florida shooter’s iPhone, federal law enforcement officials said Monday.
Investigators needed a bit of luck to gain access to Second Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani’s phone to collect cell phone data, which revealed his al-Qaida connections, Attorney General William Barr told The Wall Street Journal.,
FBI used the data to discover a connection between Alshamrani and an al-Qaida operative before his 2019 shooting spree.
“We received effectively no help from Apple,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told the WSJ.
“The delay from getting into these devices didn’t just divert our personnel from other important work, it also seriously hampered this investigation,” Wray said before noting that “we really needed it months ago back in December, when the court issued its warrants” for Alshamrani’s phone.
