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“He had a device and we just couldn’t get into it.

“If we could have accessed that device it would have pushed the investigation forward, it would have demonstrated who else was involved because in situations where it looks like there was only one person involved, often times there was someone else who helped along the journey.

“A lot of times these people aren’t held to account for killing people.”

It is the first time Knecht has publicly alluded to the accused, Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, having a device police were not able to access. He does not specify what the device was.

He elaborated on the process required to access a device in a video interview with the paper.

“If I get a search warrant, and I do that properly and then I take it to a prosecutor who reviews it, and then I take it to a judge who is supposed to look, ‘Is this legal, moral, ethical?’ The judge determines that yes I should be able to access your iPhone or whatever, iPad,” he said.

“If that whole process goes through and it’s looked upon as being legal, then you would hope that the police would be able to get that information, particularly as it deals with public safety or a terrorism incident.”

No terrorism charges laid

In the early hours after the attack, Knecht said that police were investigating the attacks as “acts of terrorism,” but no terrorism charges have been laid.

No one was killed in the incidents, which began with a man driving a car into a police constable manning a traffic barrier outside a football game at Commonwealth Stadium. The man attacked the officer with a knife before running away.

Police later said they found that man behind the wheel of a U-Haul truck. They gave chase as the truck drove through downtown Edmonton, hitting pedestrians on the sidewalk.

The accused, Sharif, is charged with several offences including five counts of attempted murder. His trial is scheduled for next October.

Postmedia has reached out to Edmonton police and Knecht.

Samantha Labahn, Sharif’s lawyer, declined to comment.

jwakefield@postmedia.com

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