SAN DIEGO (AP) — Two teenage shooters opened fire at a San Diego mosque on Monday and killed three men — then killed themselves a few blocks away — in an attack police are investigating as a hate crime.
There was no specific threat made against the Islamic Center of San Diego but authorities found evidence that the suspects engaged in “generalized hate rhetoric,” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said. He declined to give more details, but said the “circumstances that led up to this” would come out in the days ahead.
Before the attack, officers were already looking for one of the teenagers since his mother called police concerned that her son was suicidal and had run away, Wahl said. There were weapons missing from the home and the mother’s vehicle was gone, he added.
The search took on even more urgency as police learned that he was dressed in camouflage and with an acquaintance — details that were unexpected for someone about to die by suicide, he said.
Police began using whatever technology they could to find the 17- and 18-year-old, including automated license plate readers. The department dispatched authorities to a mall near where the car had been tracked by police, and officers alerted a school where at least one of the suspects had been a student, Wahl said.
As officers continued interviewing the mother about places the teens might be, they got reports of a shooting at the mosque.
Among those killed was a mosque security guard, who police believe “played a pivotal role” in keeping the attack from being “much worse,” Wahl said.
“It’s fair to say his actions were heroic,” the chief said at a later news conference. “Undoubtedly he saved lives today.”
A family friend identified the guard as Amin Abdullah, a well-known face at the mosque who had been working there for more than a decade.
“He wanted to defend the innocent so he decided to become a security guard,” said Shaykh Uthman Ibn Farooq, who had spoken with Abdullah’s son. The family could not immediately be reached for comment.
The center is the largest mosque in San Diego County and includes the Al Rashid School, which offers courses in Arabic language, Islamic studies and the Quran for students ages 5 and up, according to its website.
Police responded within four minutes of being called, Wahl said. As they arrived, gunshots rang out a few blocks away where a landscaper was shot at but uninjured. The shooters were found dead in a vehicle stopped in the middle of a road nearby, he said.
Aerial TV footage showed more than a dozen children holding hands and being walked out of the parking lot of the center as it was surrounded by scores of police vehicles. The mosque is in a neighborhood of homes, apartments and strip malls with Middle Eastern restaurants and markets.
Parents were directed to a nearby area to retrieve their children.
The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images
The mosque’s director, Imam Taha Hassane, called it “extremely outrageous to target a place of worship.”
“All the places of worship in our beautiful city should always be protected,” he said.
He added that the center focused on interfaith relations and community building, and that a group of non-Muslims had been touring the mosque earlier Monday to learn about Islam.
The Islamic Center’s website says its mission is to not only serve the Muslim population but also to “work with the larger community to serve the less fortunate, to educate, and to better our nation.” Five daily prayers are held there, and the mosque works with other organizations and people of all faiths on social causes.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, one of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the U.S., condemned the shooting.
“No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school,” said CAIR-San Diego Executive Director Tazheen Nizam in a statement. “We are working to learn more about this incident and we encourage everyone to keep this community in your prayers.”
President Donald Trump called the shooting a “terrible situation.”
Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writers Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.