Apple Offered Help FBI Unlock Texas Church Shooter's iPhone?
The cellphone of David Kelley, the dead suspect accused of killing 26 people in a Texas church on Sunday, Nov. 5, was sent to the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Virginia by Tuesday, Nov. 7. The agency and Apple, maker of the iPhone that Kelley reportedly owned, are now just starting to work on unlocking the unit.
FBI was 48 hours too late at reaching out to Apple for help, though, according to a source via Reuters. It's this cell phone, which sources claimed is an iPhone even though the agency avoided mentioning the brand, that could hold important clues on the preparations Kelley may have made before the shooting took place.
Christopher Combs, head of the FBI field office in San Antonio, implied via a press statement that it's the encryption that's been getting in the way of their following any lead that could be found on Kelley's phone.
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"Law enforcement is increasingly not able to get into these phones," Combs said in his press statement. "I can assure you that we are working very hard to get into the phone," he added, as quoted by The Verge.
The FBI could have asked Apple for assistance during the first 48 hours after the incident, during which Kelley's fingerprint could have still been used to unlock the phone, if it comes with Touch ID, according to a source. Newer models of the iPhone will require the access code after that span of time.
While the exact model of the suspect's iPhone is still kept under wraps, Apple saw it fit to release a statement to confirm that they attempted to help the FBI during those crucial two days, as obtained by BuzzFeed.
"Our team immediately reached out to the FVI after learning from their press conference on Tuesday that investigators were trying to access a mobile phone," an Apple spokesperson said.
"We offered assistance and said we would expedite out response to any legal process they send us," the iPhone maker added.
