The FBI is unable to access Connor Betts’s mobile phone, according to a Thursday-published report at the Hill citing “two sources.”
Betts, a supporter of socialism and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), murdered nine people and wounded 27 others in a mass shooting attack in Dayton, Ohio.
It may take months or years to access data on Betts’s phone if the murderer used a PIN between six and eight digits, according to FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich. Bowdich reportedly informed House Democrats via conference call on Wednesday that the FBI “can’t unlock” Betts’s phone, adding, “We don’t know when we are going to get into the phone.”
The FBI was able to unlock a Samsung phone belonging to Betts, but the gunman owned more than one device, according to a CBS News report citing a “Senate Democratic source.”
Following 2015’s Islamic terrorist attack in San Bernardino, the FBI sought to compel Apple to assist in accessing information on the slain mass murderer Syed Farook’s iPhone. Apple refused the FBI’s request and appealed a subsequent court order to that end.
The FBI later hacked into Farook’s iPhone.
Breitbart News’s John Hayward described the conflict between the federal government and Apple — and the broader technology industry — as the “Encryption Wars.”
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.