SAN DIEGO — Authorities are trying to unravel what led two teenagers to open fire at the San Diego Islamic Center, killing three people before taking their own lives.
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 teen, 17, and a second suspect, 18, opened fire at the center Monday morning around 11:30 a.m., authorities said. They were found minutes later at a location not far from the center, dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, according to authorities.
San Diego police are investigating the attack as a hate crime.
One of the guns had hate speech written on it, the sources told The Times, and anti-Islamic writings were found in a vehicle.
“At least one of the suspects took a firearm from their parents’ home” and left a suicide note, “writing about racial pride,” sources said.
Monday afternoon, FBI agents were searching the teen’s home on Lehrer Drive, according to law enforcement sources. The house is around two miles from the Islamic Center, which is in the Clairemont Mesa neighborhood.
The teenager 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 teen, three sources identified him as Cain Clark.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said Monday that his department got a call from the teen’s mother about a “runaway juvenile.” He said the mother said guns were missing and that her son left with a companion wearing camouflage outfits.
Police were interviewing her when the first calls of the active shooter came in, he said.
Wahl did not specify the threats connected to the teens.
“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.”
Authorities said that, when they arrived at the center at about 11:45 a.m., they found three adults dead in front of the building. Police then received additional calls about gunfire several blocks away. A landscaper was shot at but not injured in the 7100 block of Salerno Street. Minutes later, police also responded to the 3800 block of Salerno Street where, inside, officers found the two suspects dead. Little is known about the second suspect.
Clark attended an elementary and a middle school in person at the district, but following the pandemic his family enrolled him online schooling full time, Canning said.
During the shooting, five of the district’s school close to the Islamic Center were placed on lockdown. San Diego Unified Supt. Fabi Bagula said in a statement Monday that “hate has no place in our community or schools” and that “every student family and community member deserves to feel safe, valued and able to worship and gather without fear.” The district is making counselors available to all students and families affected by the tragedy.
Officials have not spoken of a specific motive, but San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said: “Hate has no home in San Diego. Islamophobia has no home in San Diego. An attack on any one of our communities — on any San Diegan because of who they are, what they believe, or how they pray — is an attack on all of us.”
