Five dead, including teen suspects at San Diego Islamic Centre
Updated ,first published
Washington: The call to San Diego police came in at 9:42 a.m. A concerned mother reported that her teenage son had run away and was suicidal.
The more officers talked to the mother, the more concerned they became. His son had taken several guns from the house, as well as his car, and was with another young friend. He told police they were both wearing camouflage clothing.
Two hours later, five men were dead after killing three people at San Diego’s largest mosque before fleeing and apparently turning the guns on themselves; Including these two young people.
“This is a city’s and a community’s worst nightmare as a free society,” San Diego police Chief Scott Wahl said.
Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are piecing together the horrific hate crime that shook California and the United States, prompting new calls to crack down on Islamophobia.
Wahl said the mother’s call triggered a significant threat assessment as officers tracked the car’s license plate and sent a team to possible targets, including a mall and school with which one of the teens was associated.
While trying to find the missing teens, they received a call at 11:43 a.m. (San Diego time) on Monday (two hours after the mother’s call) that there was an active shooter at the Islamic Center of San Diego.
Located about a 20-minute drive north of downtown, this mosque is San Diego’s largest mosque and is adjacent to an Islamic school.
Police found three adult men lying dead on the sidewalk outside the center, Wahl said. Simultaneously, they also received reports of other gunshots heard nearby.
A few minutes later, police were called to another location where two men believed to be the attackers were found dead in a vehicle in the middle of the street, he said.
They appear to have died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Wahl confirmed that they were only 17 and 18 years old.
One of the victims who died outside the mosque was a security guard who worked there and likely played a role in preventing a larger tragedy, Wahl said.
“We believe the security guard was able to at least help minimize the situation at the front of the mosque. It is fair to say that his actions were heroic and undoubtedly saved lives today.”
Authorities did not provide details about the other two victims and did not release any names.
Police said that the incident was being investigated as a hate crime and that the suspects made “hateful words”. “There was definitely hate speech out there,” Wahl said.
But he said the rhetoric did not pose a specific threat to any facility or location, including the Islamic Center. He said it was “general hate speech covering a broad spectrum.” “It was more generalized.”
Wahl said the teen’s mother, who called police, also found a note but declined to provide details.
Taha Hassane, imam and director of the Islamic Center of San Diego, thanked those who contacted the mosque from the United States and abroad to express their condolences.
“We have never experienced such a tragedy before,” he said. “It is extremely ugly that a place of worship is targeted.
“People are coming [here] praying, celebrating, learning. We have people from all walks of life, not just Muslims.
“This is something we never expected.”
Hassane added that all children and staff at the adjacent school were safe.
When asked about the incident during a meeting on health care at the White House, US President Donald Trump said he had been given some “early updates” but would receive additional briefings later.
“It’s a terrible situation,” he said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom stated that his state stands with the Muslim community and expressed his deepest condolences to the families and communities affected by the tragedy.
“Worshippers anywhere need not fear for their lives,” Newsom said. “Hate has no place in California, and we will not tolerate acts of terrorism or intimidation against faith communities.”
The shooting triggered further debate about Islamophobia in the heated American political environment. In New York, the city’s first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said that Islamophobia endangers Muslims across the country and that it must be combated directly.
He said the New York Police Department will increase deployment to mosques across the city out of an abundance of caution, even though there is no known threat.
At the same time, Trump ally Laura Loomer, a prominent MAGA activist and conspiracy theorist who has influence over the president, told her 1.9 million followers that the attack was a “false flag” attack by Muslims and said the best way to protect Muslims in America was to deport them all to the Middle East.
The attack came just days after Aftab Malik, the Albanian government’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia, warned that the government could not afford to do so: “wait for another Christchurch [mosque shooting]” before responding to the Islamophobia report he submitted in September.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
