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Source: CHRISTOF STACHE / Getty

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook says firm will oppose a federal judge’s ruling order to help investigators break into an iPhone belonging to San Bernardino, Calif., shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.

“We have great respect for the professionals at the FBI, and we believe their intentions are good. Up to this point, we have done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them,” Cook wrote in a letter published on the Cupertino, Calif.-headquartered firm’s website.

“But now the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone,” he said.

Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people in December in a mass shooting at a county public health facility. The pair subsequently died in a gun battle with police. An iPhone was recovered from the scene but because investigators don’t know the passcode they have been unable to access the phone’s data.

Apple was ordered to break into San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone to help the FBI gain access by giving it “reasonable technical assistance.” Cook said Apple would resist that order.

Read the full letter HERE.