Texas Rangers want to unlock mass shooter’s iPhone; this time Apple may help
20 Nov 2017
Authorities are persisting in their efforts to get access to the Texas mass shooter's iPhone, two weeks after 26 people were killed by a gunman at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Two phones were discovered at the scene: an older push-button LG and what local media described as a ''blood spattered'' Apple iPhone SE. Local law enforcement has now served Apple with a search warrant in order to retrieve information from the smartphone.
The news has echoes of a recent spat between Apple and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over a mass shooting in San Bernadino, California, in late 2015. But this time around, Apple appears to have been proactive this time around. The Tuesday following the murders, the FBI held a press conference noting the existence of one of two phones, without revealing the make, as it didn't want to ''tell every bad guy out there what phone to buy''.
As reported by The Washington Post, the mystery handset was indeed an iPhone. Apple reached out to law enforcement after the press conference, offering technical assistance in getting onto the device. The company, it seems, could have provided help early on, without much legal wrangling or creating more software backdoors.
The San Antonio Express-News has learned that Texas Rangers served Apple warrants for data on both the perpetrator's iPhone SE and a basic LG cellphone. In the case of the iPhone, the state law enforcement unit wants access to both local and iCloud info (such as calls, messages and photos) recorded since 1 January 2016.
