San Diego mosque shooters met online and left hateful writings, FBI says

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Two teenage boys who shot and killed three people in an attack at a San Diego mosque were radicalized online, where the FBI said they first met and shared white supremacist views. Authorities said the attackers also left writings describing broad hatred toward multiple groups, and that the men later died by suicide after police and security personnel engaged them at the Islamic Center of San Diego.

Mark Remily, the lead FBI agent in San Diego, described the attackers’ hatred as wide-ranging. He said the pair “didn’t discriminate on who they hated,” according to the FBI remarks reported by AP on Tuesday.

Investigators said the two teens met online before discovering they both lived in the San Diego area. Authorities said they were still working to understand the details of how the radicalization occurred, as the FBI described the case as still being developed.

The FBI said writings obtained by AP included hateful rhetoric toward Jewish people, Muslims and Islam, and also toward LGBTQ+ people, Black people, women, and both the political left and right. Authorities said the writings expressed beliefs that white people were being eliminated, and one of the two attackers wrote about mental health struggles and being rejected by women.

Police said investigators searched two residences after Monday’s attack and found at least 30 guns, ammunition and a crossbow. Remily said investigators were trying to determine whether the shooters had broader plans beyond the mosque attack.

Authorities identified the attackers as Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18. Police said the two killed themselves following the shooting.

Officials and worship leaders praised the victims killed during the attack, including Amin Abdullah, a security guard at the Islamic Center of San Diego. Imam Taha Hassane said Abdullah engaged the suspects in a gunbattle and called for a lockdown on his radio.

Police said the security guard opened fire when the shooters arrived and tried to barge inside, wounding the guard and forcing the attackers back outside. Authorities said the pair then went back into the lobby, searched through rooms emptied during the lockdown, exited into the parking lot, and fatally shot additional victims, including Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad, according to police.

Police Chief Scott Wahl said Abdullah helped draw the attackers farther away from the building while he was firing. Hassane described Kaziha, known as Abu Ezz, as central to the Islamic Center, saying he was the handyman, cook and caretaker, and Hassane said leaders of different faiths hugged him at a vigil Tuesday.

The shooting was the latest in a string of attacks on houses of worship, authorities said, coming as investigators and Muslim American organizations have warned about rising threats and hate crimes targeting Muslim and Jewish communities. In addition to the victims’ roles in the center, the Islamic Center’s leaders said the community has received hate messages in the past and had not expected a “horrible crime” at the mosque.

Investigators also said there was no specific threat identified against the Islamic Center before the attack. Police said the Islamic Center is the largest mosque in San Diego and also houses a school nearby, and the FBI said one attacker referred to himself and the other as “Sons of Tarrant,” an apparent reference to the white supremacist who attacked mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.

In addition, investigators said the writings included symbols associated with white supremacists and Nazis.