San Diego Islamic Center suspects were self-radicalized, left manifesto behind, officials say

SAN DIEGO — The two gunmen who opened fire at a San Diego mosque on Monday, killing three people, had met online, where they were radicalized and left behind a hate-filled manifesto, authorities revealed Tuesday.

According to a witness, the pair were “fully armored” and rushed toward the entrance with handguns and rifles before security guard Amin Abdullah shot at and struck one of them.

A wrenching portrait was emerging about the moments before the attack, with the mother of one of the gunmen frantically calling police to say her son had left a suicide note and that guns were missing. She told them her son left with a companion wearing camouflage outfits. Officers were interviewing her when the first reports of the active shooting occurred.

Mark Remily, FBI special agent in charge of the San Diego office, said the suspects left behind writings “outlining religious and racial beliefs about how the world they envision should look like.”

But officials didn’t provide any details about the writings or ideology, adding that they were still going through electronic devices and examining the suspects’ online presence to determine how they were radicalized.

“These suspects did not discriminate on who they hated,” Remily said.

It also remain unclear why they targeted the Islamic Center.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said the actions of the security guard, as well as the two other victims who were killed in the parking lot of the center, distracted and delayed the two suspects, who scoured the mosque only to find empty rooms.

During the gunfight, Wahl said, the security guard had called out on his walkie talkie for the school to be locked down, giving teachers, workers, and more than 140 kids inside a chance to seek shelter.

“I had no idea how heroic those actions were,” Wahl said Tuesday, noting that officials had viewed security footage of the attack. “You can see the security guard reach for his radio and put out the lockdown protocol. The security guard then continued to engage in a gun battle with these two suspects.”

In the exchange of gunfire, one of the gunmen who was shot by the security guard appeared unfazed, and continued to charge toward the mosque, a witness and member of the mosque said in an Instagram post.

The guard shot at one of the suspects, “but they were fully armored so it did little to stop them,” said the man, identified by mosque Imam Taha Hassane as “Brother Os.”

In the video, the man identified as Brother Os described how the gunmen rushed toward the mosque “as soon as they parked their car.”

That’s when they exchanged gunfire with the security guard and sent the two other victims scrambling in the parking lot.

At one point, the suspects came within 15 feet of children at the center but, seeing nobody, instead went into the parking lot to attack the two other victims, Wahl said.

In the parking lot, the two victims were taking cover behind vehicles, calling police when they were chased and killed by the gunmen.

“All three of our victims did not die in vain,” Wahl said. “Without distracting the attention, without delaying the actions of these two individuals, without a question there would have been many more fatalities yesterday.”

Officials said the attackers died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds as the police moved in.

An early focus has been on one of the assailants, a San Diego high school student whose mother reported that he was suicidal and potentially armed soon before the shooting occurred.

The student, 17, and a second person, 18, opened fire at the center Monday morning around 11:30 a.m., authorities said.

One of the guns had hate speech written on it, law enforcement sources told The Times, and anti-Islamic writings were found in a vehicle.

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“At least one of the suspects took a firearm from their parents’ home” and left a suicide note, “writing about racial pride,” sources said.

The suspect was enrolled in a virtual learning academy at the San Diego Unified School District and was on track to graduate high school this semester, according to district spokesperson James Canning.

He previously participated in wrestling at Madison High School but did not take part in any on-campus activities this school year, said Canning.

“It’s important for people to understand this person wasn’t there on Friday and then all of a sudden Monday this is the situation,” Canning said. “They were in their virtual classroom.”

Although authorities have not named the first suspect, three sources identified him as Cain Clark. Two law enforcement sources identified the second suspect as Caleb Vazquez.

The Times found social media accounts under the usernames Cain identified as his and those link to accounts showing school shootings as video games, and show the user dressed in camouflage, a skull mask, before a Confederate flag wearing emblems associated with Nazism ideology.

Law enforcement officials said they were conducting extensive interviews of the suspects’ family, friends and acquaintances. Federal officials also executed three search warrants, which resulted in the discovery of more than 30 firearms and a crossbow at two of the locations, Remily said.

Officials seized several pistols, rifles, shotguns, ammunition, tactical gear, as well as electronics, he said.

But the weapons were not registered to the two gunmen, Wahl said, but to one of their parents. He said investigators were looking into how the weapons were obtained.

According to law enforcement sources, the FBI is investigating a livestream feed of the attack or the aftermath from inside the BMW that captures the suspects in combat outfits that include Nazi symbols with guns visible.

When asked about the livestream, Wahl declined to provide details and said “we are actively going through their electronics.

Wahl did not specify the threats connected to the suspects.

“There was no specific threat, especially no specific threat to the Islamic Center. It was just general hate kind of speech that I think covered a wide gamut,” Wahl said. “Again, we are still actively investigating this as we speak, but it was more generalized.”

Staff writer Paige St. John contributed to this report.