SAN DIEGO — Law enforcement officers were actively hunting for two teenagers before they launched a fatal attack at a San Diego mosque that claimed three lives.
The manhunt started when one suspect’s mother contacted authorities to report her son was suicidal and had disappeared, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl explained. She told officers that firearms were taken from their residence and her car was missing.
Two hours after the search commenced, gunfire erupted at the Islamic Center of San Diego, located just blocks from the family’s home.
The attackers, aged 17 and 18, were discovered inside a car after taking their own lives several blocks from where the shooting occurred.
Law enforcement officials planned to carry out search warrants connected to the case Tuesday while working to understand the circumstances and motives behind the attack. While no direct threats were made against the Islamic center, investigators discovered evidence showing the suspects participated in “generalized hate rhetoric,” Wahl stated, explaining the incident is being examined as a hate crime.
The facility, which announced it would remain closed indefinitely, serves as San Diego’s largest mosque and normally conducts five prayer services daily.
“These were men who put themselves on the line for our masjid and our community,” the center posted on Facebook, using the Arabic term for mosque. “Men of courage, sacrifice, and faith. Their absence leaves a void that can never truly be filled.”
Monday morning brought an escalation in the search for the missing teenager as authorities gathered additional information. Officers learned he had worn camouflage clothing and was accompanied by an associate. Law enforcement used automated license plate scanning technology to trace the vehicle and visited a shopping center in the vicinity. They also notified a school where at least one suspect had been enrolled and continued questioning the mother, Wahl reported.
When emergency calls about the shooting arrived, officers reached the scene within four minutes of notification. Three men had already died when police arrived, Wahl confirmed.
One victim was a security guard who authorities believe “played a pivotal role” in preventing the assault from becoming “much worse,” Wahl noted.
“It’s fair to say his actions were heroic,” the chief stated during a press briefing. “Undoubtedly he saved lives today.”
A family acquaintance named the guard as Amin Abdullah, a familiar presence at the mosque who had served there for over ten years.
“He wanted to defend the innocent so he decided to become a security guard,” explained Shaykh Uthman Ibn Farooq, who had spoken with Abdullah’s son.
The family was not available for immediate comment.
The center described him as “a courageous man who put himself on the line of the safety of others, who even in his last moments did not stop protecting our community.”
The mosque sits within a residential area filled with homes, apartment buildings and shopping centers featuring Middle Eastern dining establishments and grocery stores. The center houses the Al Rashid School, which provides instruction in Arabic language, Islamic studies and the Quran for pupils aged 5 and older, its website states.
Television helicopter footage captured more than a dozen children holding hands while being escorted from the center’s parking area as numerous police cruisers surrounded the location.
Imam Taha Hassane, who directs the mosque, described it as “extremely outrageous to target a place of worship,” noting that the center emphasized interfaith relationships and community development.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, among the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organizations, denounced the shooting.
“No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school,” CAIR-San Diego Executive Director Tazheen Nizam stated.
President Donald Trump described the shooting as a “terrible situation.”
