Two teenage gunmen opened fire on Monday morning at the Islamic Center of San Diego, California, killing three men — including a security guard — before being found dead of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a vehicle nearby. Police are treating the attack as a hate crime. The suspects, aged 17 and 18, carried out the assault at approximately 11:40 a.m. local time at the centre, which is the largest mosque in San Diego County, located in the Clairemont district roughly nine miles north of downtown San Diego. The campus also houses a day school, the Al Rashid School, and children were in class when the shooting erupted.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl described how a critical sequence of events unfolded in the hours before the attack. About two hours prior, the mother of one of the suspects called police to report that her son — whom she described as suicidal — had run away from home, taking three of her guns and her car, accompanied by a companion. Both were dressed in camouflage. A note left behind contained what Wahl called "generalised hate rhetoric and hate speech" but no specific threat to any location. Officers were tracking the pair and were only blocks from the mosque when reports of the shooting came in. Wahl said no shots were fired by law enforcement during the entire episode. A witness told CBS News he heard up to 30 gunshots from what sounded like a semi-automatic weapon.
Among those killed was a security guard who, according to the police chief, "played a pivotal role" in limiting the death toll. "It's fair to say his actions were heroic. Undoubtedly he saved lives today," Wahl said. A person who knew the guard told CBS he was a father of eight. All children at the school were evacuated safely; aerial footage showed them holding hands as they were escorted through the car park by officers. In a separate but connected incident, the suspects also fired from their vehicle at a landscaper a couple of blocks away; the man was uninjured, with police saying a bullet may have been deflected by his hard hat.
Imam Taha Hassane, director of the Islamic Center, said at a news conference: "We have never experienced a tragedy like this before. It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship. Our Islamic Center is a house of worship, not a battlefield." The attack fell just days before Eid al-Adha, one of Islam's most important festivals. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state "will not tolerate acts of terror or intimidation against communities of faith," and President Donald Trump called it a "terrible situation" while indicating he was being briefed. New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani ordered increased police deployments to mosques across the city as a precaution, citing no specific threat.
The shooting is the latest in a series of attacks on places of worship in the United States. In March, a man crashed a truck into a Jewish temple near Detroit, Michigan, and opened fire on security guards before dying. Muslim and Jewish communities across the country have reported heightened anxiety in recent months. The FBI has joined the San Diego police investigation and appealed to the public for information. Five hours after the attack, authorities said they were still piecing together a full account of how and why the violence unfolded.