Two teenage gunmen opened fireplace at a mosque in San Diego on Monday, killing three men earlier than later killing themselves, in line with police.
Authorities stated the assault on the Islamic Middle of San Diego is being investigated as a potential hate crime.
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San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl informed reporters that investigators are nonetheless working to find out what led to the taking pictures, including that extra particulars concerning the circumstances surrounding the assault are anticipated to emerge within the coming days.
The assault got here the week earlier than the Muslim vacation of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, and the annual Hajj pilgrimage to the holy website of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Here’s what we all know to this point:
What occurred on the San Diego mosque?
At about 9:42am native time (16:42 GMT) on Monday, police obtained a name from a mom reporting a “runaway juvenile”, Wahl stated.
“The data that she was gathering and conveying to us started to raise the risk degree that we have been perceiving,” Wahl added. “She believed her son was suicidal, and he or she started to share data that a number of of her weapons have been lacking, her car was lacking, along with her son.”
Roughly two hours later, at about 11:43am native time (18:43 GMT), officers responded to studies of an lively shooter within the 7000 block of Eckstrom Avenue, arriving inside about 4 minutes, authorities stated.
Wahl stated as many as 100 regulation enforcement officers entered the Islamic Middle of San Diego after receiving studies of a potential taking pictures on the mosque.
When officers arrived, they discovered three folks lifeless outdoors the constructing, prompting what Wahl described as an “lively shooter response” contained in the complicated.
“They did must breach doorways to get into all the completely different rooms,” Wahl informed reporters at a information convention. “There was someplace between 50 to 100 law enforcement officials inside that facility.”
“No officers discharged their weapons,” Wahl added.
As police secured the realm, gunfire erupted a couple of blocks away, the place a landscaper was shot at however not injured, in line with Wahl. The suspected attackers have been later discovered lifeless inside a car stopped on a close-by street.
Tv aerial footage confirmed greater than a dozen youngsters holding palms as they have been escorted from the mosque’s automotive park whereas the realm was surrounded by police automobiles.
“I’ll inform you what bought me,” Wahl stated. “Watching children come operating out, simply grateful to be alive.”
Officers stated they’re treating the taking pictures as a hate crime investigation until proof suggests in any other case.
The place did the taking pictures occur?
In line with its web site, the mosque is the biggest in San Diego county, serving a congregation of greater than 5,000 folks.
The complicated additionally homes Al Rashid College, which presents courses in Arabic, Islamic research and the Quran for kids aged 5 and older.
Positioned in a neighbourhood of properties, residence buildings and strip malls with Center Japanese eating places and markets, the mosque describes its mission as serving the spiritual wants of San Diego’s Muslim neighborhood whereas additionally supporting and educating the broader public.
The centre says its actions embrace 5 day by day prayers, Friday sermons, instructional talks and neighborhood seminars, and that it welcomes guests from all faiths.
Talking quickly after the taking pictures, Taha Hassane, an imam on the Islamic Middle, condemned the assault.
“This can be very outrageous to focus on a spot of worship,” he stated. “Individuals come to the Islamic Middle to hope, to have fun, to study – not solely Muslims, however we have now folks from all walks of life.”
The Islamic Middle is about 14km (9 miles) north of downtown San Diego.
What do we all know concerning the attackers?
The 2 suspects discovered lifeless inside a car have been youngsters, authorities stated. Wahl stated they have been 17 and 19 years outdated.
Authorities have launched restricted particulars about them.
Police stated the mom who contacted authorities earlier within the day informed investigators the pair have been wearing camouflage clothes and travelling collectively in a car that had been reported lacking.
“We additionally gathered data that one of many people was related in some kind or vogue with Madison Excessive College,” Wahl stated, including that officers and faculty police elevated safety across the faculty’s campus in the course of the investigation.
The mom additionally discovered a observe, Wahl stated. He didn’t disclose its contents however stated of the case, “There was positively hate rhetoric that was concerned,” although there was no particular risk towards the Islamic Middle of San Diego, he added.
Authorities stated the youngsters killed three folks, together with a safety guard who labored on the mosque, earlier than later killing themselves.
What do we all know concerning the victims?
Among the many deceased victims was a safety guard who labored on the centre and “performed a pivotal function” in stopping the assault from being “a lot worse”, officers stated.
“It’s truthful to say his actions have been heroic,” Wahl stated. “Undoubtedly, he saved lives as we speak.”
Authorities haven’t but publicly recognized the three victims. However neighborhood leaders have recognized the guard as Amin Abdullah. Native media studies advised he was a father of eight.
What have been the reactions?
The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the taking pictures.
“Nobody ought to ever concern for his or her security whereas attending prayers or learning at an elementary faculty,” stated CAIR-San Diego Govt Director Tazheen Nizam in a press release. “We’re working to study extra about this incident, and we encourage everybody to maintain this neighborhood in your prayers.”
“Islamophobia endangers Muslim communities throughout this nation,” Zohran Mamdani, New York Metropolis’s first Muslim mayor, stated. “We should confront it straight and stand collectively towards the politics of concern and division.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom launched a press release that he was “horrified by as we speak’s violent assault”, including that “hate has no place in California.”
What’s the state of Islamophobia within the US?
US civil rights advocates have for years warned about rising Islamophobia, linking it to the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 assaults, the so-called warfare on terror that adopted, and extra just lately, to anti-immigration rhetoric, white supremacist actions and tensions surrounding Israel’s genocidal warfare on Gaza.
CAIR stated it recorded 8,683 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints in 2025, the best quantity for the reason that organisation started publishing information in 1996.
In a report, CAIR stated many Muslims and other people advocating for Palestinian rights more and more felt focused by authorities insurance policies, political rhetoric and public suspicion.
“Authorities actions and official rhetoric handled Muslims, and individuals who communicate up for Palestinian human rights, as suspicious and out of doors the circle of protected spiritual and civic life in 2025,” the report stated.
A separate research printed in April by the Middle for the Research of Organized Hate discovered a pointy rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric from Republican elected officers since early 2025. Researchers cited greater than 1,100 social media posts by Republican governors and members of Congress that the group categorized as anti-Muslim bigotry.
Rights teams have additionally pointed to rising threats and assaults towards mosques, Islamic colleges and Muslim neighborhood centres throughout the US in recent times.
In February, photographs have been fired on the Pike County Islamic Middle in Matamoras, Pennsylvania, in the course of the holy month of Ramadan, damaging home windows and furnishings contained in the mosque.
In October 2023, six-year-old Palestinian American boy Wadea Al-Fayoume was killed in Illinois after prosecutors stated his landlord stabbed him and his mom in what authorities described as a hate crime linked to the warfare on Gaza.
Muslim elected officers have additionally repeatedly confronted threats and harassment. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, one of many first Muslim girls elected to Congress, has continuously been focused with loss of life threats and anti-Muslim abuse.
What’s the newest within the space?
Authorities stated they’ve diminished the “Genasys advisory zone”, a geographically focused public security alert space, across the Islamic Middle of San Diego because the investigation strikes from the emergency response section into what officers described because the “investigative section”.
The restricted space has now been narrowed to Eckstrom Avenue, Cosmo Road, Balboa Avenue and Hathaway Road, in line with officers, who continued to induce residents to keep away from the realm whereas investigators stay on the scene.
Police additionally inspired residents to obtain the Genasys Defend app to obtain emergency and public security alerts straight for his or her space.
