On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump, in an apparent reference to the investigation into the Pensacola shooting and Barr's Monday statement, also accused Apple of not providing assistance in unlocking "phones used by killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements".
POTUS demanded that the company "step up to the plate and help our great Country, NOW!"
Trump's tweet follows a statement by the attorney general to reporters at the Department of Justice, in which Barr claimed that although Apple was asked "for their help in unlocking the shooter’s iPhones", the company has not provided what he characterized as "substantive assistance".
Apple responded by noting that they "reject the characterization that Apple has not provided substantive assistance in the Pensacola investigation."
On 6 December, a Saudi national, identified by US media as Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a cadet in a US Navy flight training program, opened fire at Naval Air Station Pensacola, killing three and injuring another eight before being gunned down by police.