San Diego mosque shooters met online and left writings expressing hate, FBI says
Mark Remily, the lead FBI agent in San Diego, said Tuesday that the two “do not discriminate in who they hate.”
The articles obtained by The Associated Press contain hateful rhetoric directed at Jews, Muslims and Islam, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, Black people, women and both the political left and right. Both express the belief that white people are being eliminated, and one writes about mental health issues and rejection by women.
Investigators found at least 30 guns, ammunition and crossbows in two homes after Monday’s San Diego attack and are trying to uncover whether the attackers had broader plans, Remily said. According to police, the attackers Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, killed themselves.
The families of the two teenagers could not immediately be reached for comment.
Authorities praised the three men they killed, including popular security guard Amin Abdullah, for slowing down attackers at the Islamic Center of San Diego and preventing them from reaching 140 schoolchildren just feet away.
Imam Taha Hassane said Abdullah engaged in a gunfight with the suspects and called for his radio to be quarantined. He “sacrificed his life to prevent them from entering the classrooms.” The shooting was the latest in a series of attacks on places of worship and comes at a time when threats and hate crimes targeting Muslim and Jewish communities have increased since the beginning of the war in the Middle East, leading to increased security.
Articles show widespread hatred of shooters
Police said authorities said there was no specific threat to the Islamic center, which is San Diego’s largest mosque and also houses a school. In his writings, Kabul calls for the “destruction” of Muslims.
The document contains symbols long associated with white supremacists and Nazis. The duo called themselves the “Sons of Tarrant”; This was an apparent reference to the white supremacist who attacked mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 51 people in 2019.
Muslim American organizations noted that anti-Muslim rhetoric is on the rise across the United States.
The FBI said the two suspects met online before learning they were living in the San Diego area. “We are still investigating this as to how the radicalization occurred,” Remily said.
Clark has been attending school online since 2021 and is set to graduate next month, San Diego Unified School District spokesman James Canning said. He joined Madison High School’s wrestling team in 2024. Canning said Clark had no record of disciplinary problems in high school.
Neighbors Marne and Ted Celaya said they last saw Clark a few hours before the shooting, and that Clark waved as he got into the car alone and drove away. They described the family as good neighbors and remembered watching Cain grow up.
“It’s incredible,” Marne Celaya said of the shooting. “He helped me bring my groceries.”
The victims were the pillars of the mosque
Police said that when the attackers came to the Islamic Center and tried to enter, the security guard opened fire.
Police Chief Scott Wahl said the attackers wounded a security guard as they entered the lobby, who fired at them, forcing them to leave, and the attackers fatally shot him.
The two went back in and searched the rooms vacated during the lockdown, Wahl said. According to police, they left the parking lot, where they fatally shot Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad. The men led the attackers away from the building, Wahl said.
Kaziha, known as Abu Ezz, is “everything” for the Islamic Center, Hassane said. “He was a mechanic. He was a cook. He was a guard,” Hassane said.
Abdullah had been working at the mosque for more than ten years.
“He decided to become a security guard because he wanted to defend the innocent,” said family friend Sheikh Osman Ibn Faruk.
Mosque leaders used to hating mail
The Islamic Center is located in a neighborhood with Middle Eastern restaurants and markets. The website also states that Al Rashid School, which offers Arabic language, Islamic sciences and Quran courses to students aged 5 and above, is also included.
Josie-Ana Edenshaw, who has been going to the mosque for three years, said it was a welcoming environment, especially for new Muslims.
“They’ve always opened their doors, even to non-Muslim people, they invite people to Ramadan meals,” Edenshaw said. “Everyone in that mosque will smile at you”, which means mosque in Arabic.
The center’s imam said Tuesday that the mosque and its congregation have not been immune to threats over the years.
“We never expected things like this to happen at the Islamic Center of San Diego,” Hassane said. “So we’re used to getting hate messages, hate messages, people driving by, swearing and stuff like that. But a crime this horrific, we never expected this.”
