San Diego mosque shooting: Police were searching for teens before bloodshed
Confronting Islamophobia in the wake of San Diego mosque shooting
Investigators are calling the San Diego mosque shooting a possible hate crime. Professor Farid Hafez, with Georgetown University's Bridge Initiative, talks about the impact of rising Islamophobia and fear within Muslim communities.
SAN DIEGO - Hours before an attack at a San Diego mosque that killed three men, including a security guard hailed as a hero, police were racing to find the two teenagers who would ultimately be deemed responsible.
The search began after the mother of one teen reported that her son was suicidal and had run away, according to Police Chief Scott Wahl, who said weapons and her vehicle were missing from the family’s home.
Two hours after her call, the shooting started at the Islamic Center of San Diego, which also houses a school.
The suspects, ages 17 and 18, were found nearby in a vehicle after killing themselves.
Wahl said police are investigating Monday’s shooting as a hate crime. It was the latest in a string of attacks on houses of worship and comes amid rising threats and hate crimes targeting the Muslim and Jewish communities since the beginning of war in the Middle East, forcing increases in security.
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Police had not yet publicly identified the teens Tuesday morning, but after the shooting investigators were seen searching the San Diego home of Cain Clark, a high school senior. Clark’s parents, who are listed in public records as living at the home, did not respond to messages seeking comment, nor did other family members.
James Canning, a spokesman for San Diego Unified School District, said school police were cooperating with San Diego authorities investigating the mosque attack. Clark had been attending school online since 2021 and was on track to graduate next month, he said.
While he did not attend school in person, he did participate in 2024 as a member of the wrestling team at Madison High School in San Diego. Canning said Clark had no record of disciplinary issues in high school.
Neighbors Marne and Ted Celaya said they last saw Clark a few hours before the shooting and that he waved as he got into a car alone and drove away. They described the Clark family as good neighbors of more than 20 years and remembered when Cain was born, watching him and his older brother grow up.
"It’s unbelievable," Marne Celaya said of the shooting. "He’s helped me bring in my groceries."
San Diego mosque shooting investigated as hate crime
The attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday is being investigated as a hate crime, authorities said.
‘Hate rhetoric’ played a role
Authorities planned to execute search warrants Tuesday as they piece together how and why the attack happened. There was no specific threat against the Islamic center, which is the largest mosque in San Diego, but authorities found that the suspects engaged in "generalized hate rhetoric," Wahl said.
Muslim American organizations were quick to point out that anti-Muslim rhetoric has been on the rise across the U.S. "Words have consequences," said Mohamed Gula, interim CEO of advocacy group Emgage Action.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said during an interview with "CNN News Central" that the attack was related to white supremacy and that was why authorities were considering whether it was a hate crime.
The victims included a security guard
Among those killed was a security guard who police believe "played a pivotal role" in keeping the attack from being "much worse," Wahl said.
The guard’s actions stopped the attack from moving beyond the mosque’s front section, the police chief said.
The mosque hasn’t released the victims’ names. But a family friend identified the guard as Amin Abdullah, who had worked at the mosque for more than a decade.
"He wanted to defend the innocent so he decided to become a security guard," said Shaykh Uthman Ibn Farooq, who spoke with Abdullah’s son.
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In a Facebook post, the mosque called him "a courageous man who put himself on the line of the safety of others, who even in his last moments did not stop protecting our community."
It described one of the other victims as a foundation of the center who was dedicated to building the community from the beginning. It said the other was a man whose "kindness, sincerity and wavering spirit touched everyone around him."
Those who died were "men of courage, sacrifice, and faith," the center wrote. "Their absence leaves a void that can never truly be filled."
Search began two hours before attack
Just before the attack, the search for the missing teen intensified Monday morning as law enforcement gathered more details. Police found he had dressed in camouflage — raising their alarms — and was with a friend. Officers used automated license plate readers to track the car to a mall and went there.
The police chief said that while other officers were talking with the suspect’s mother who had called police, the first reports of the shooting came from blocks away at the mosque, which sits in a neighborhood with Middle Eastern restaurants and markets. The center includes the Al Rashid School, which offers courses in Arabic language, Islamic studies and the Quran for students ages 5 and up, according to its website.
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TV footage showed more than a dozen children holding hands and being walked out of the center’s parking lot as it was surrounded by police vehicles.
As officers searched the mosque for the shooters, there were reports of people in a fleeing vehicle shooting at a landscaper who was not seriously hurt, Wahl said. Police then found the suspects dead.
Daniel McDonald said he was inside his house when he heard gunshots. He went outside to find the streets shut down, shattered glass on the pavement and a gardener who was shaken up. He said he saw police trying to revive one of the suspects.