FBI did not initially ask Apple for help unlocking shooter’s phone: report

Law enforcement officials did not initially ask Apple for assistance in unlocking the iPhone of the gunman in Sunday’s mass shooting in Texas, Reuters reported on Wednesday. 

Christopher Combs, the head of the bureau’s field office in San Antonio, said Tuesday that because officials were not able to unlock the device, the suspect’s phone had been sent to the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Va.

{mosads}One source told Reuters that the technology company within 48 hours of the attack on a rural church did not get any requests from law enforcement officials asking for help unlocking the gunman’s phone.

Another source told the news outlet that the phone belonging to the deceased gunman, 26-year-old Devin Kelley, was an iPhone. 

According to the report, iPhones that require a fingerprint to be unlocked request the password after 48 hours.

Apple also did not get any requests for help unlocking other accounts linked to the tech company.

Twenty-six people were killed in the Sunday shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. 

Vice President Pence, citing information he received from the attorney general, said more than 100 FBI employees are working on an investigation into the shooting.