San Diego, United States. Two teenage gunmen opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday, killing a security guard and two other men outside the mosque before the suspects were found dead, police said. Authorities said the deaths of the suspects appeared to be from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Investigation and safety response
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said local law enforcement and the FBI were investigating the attack on the largest mosque in San Diego County as a hate crime. Authorities have not publicly suggested a precise motive or precipitating incident for the gun violence.
Officials said all children attending a day school at the mosque complex were accounted for and safe after the shooting, which occurred at about 11:40 a.m. PDT (1840 GMT).
Timeline leading up to the shooting
Wahl said the mother of one of the suspects called police about two hours before the shooting to report that her son, whom she described as suicidal, had run away from home with three guns she owned and her vehicle.
According to Wahl, the mother said her son was with a companion and that the two were dressed in camouflage. Police began efforts to locate the youths and were dispatching patrols to a nearby shopping mall and the son’s high school as a precaution when calls came in reporting the mosque shooting.
Wahl declined to disclose the contents of a note he said was found by the runaway’s mother.
Threat assessment
Wahl said police had not been made aware of any “specific threat” to the mosque or any religious center, school, shopping area, or any other place prior to the shooting.
He said police were confronting “generalized hate rhetoric and hate speech,” which, together with reports of a runaway teenager with multiple weapons wearing camouflage, “triggered a much bigger threat assessment.”
Timing ahead of Muslim observances
The attack came the week before the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, also known as the Feast of the Sacrifice, and the annual Hajj pilgrimage of Islamic faithful to the holy site of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
What questions do you have about the ongoing investigation and how authorities are assessing a hate-crime motive?
