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Updated ,first published
Washington: The call to San Diego police came at 9.42am. A worried mother reported her teenage son had run away and was suicidal.
As the officers spoke to the mother, they became increasingly concerned. Her son had taken multiple weapons from the household, as well as her car, and was with another young companion. Both were wearing camouflage gear, she told police.
Two hours later, five people were dead – including those two teenagers, after they allegedly killed three people at San Diego’s largest mosque before fleeing and turning the weapons on themselves.
“This is a city and a community’s absolute worst nightmare as a free society,” said San Diego police chief Scott Wahl.
Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are now piecing together the apparent hate crime that has rocked California and the US, and prompted renewed calls to crack down on Islamophobia.
Wahl said the mother’s call triggered a significant threat assessment, as officers tracked the car’s number plate and dispatched squads to possible targets, including a shopping mall and a school with which one of the teenagers was associated.
As they scrambled to find the missing teens, they received a call at 11.43am on Monday (San Diego time) – two hours after the mother’s call – that there was an active shooter at the Islamic Centre of San Diego.
About 20 minutes’ drive north of the city centre, it is the largest mosque in San Diego, and contains an adjacent Islamic school.
Police arrived to find three adult men lying dead on the pavement outside the centre, Wahl said. Simultaneously, they received reports about additional gunfire nearby.
Moments later, police were called to another location where two people – believed to be the shooters – were found dead inside a vehicle in the middle of the street, he said.
They appeared to have died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. They were aged just 17 and 18, Wahl confirmed.
One of the deceased victims outside the mosque was a security guard who worked there and likely played a role in preventing an even bigger tragedy, Wahl said.
“We do believe the security guard was able to help at least minimise the situation to the front area of the mosque. I think it’s fair to say his actions were heroic, and undoubtedly he saved lives today.”
Officials did not provide details about the other two victims, and did not release any names.
Police said the incident was being investigated as a hate crime, and that “hate words” were conveyed by the suspects. “There was definitely hate rhetoric that was involved,” Wahl said.
However, he said the rhetoric did not make a specific threat to any facility or location, including the Islamic Centre. It was “general hate kind of speech that covered a wide gamut”, he said. “It was more generalised.”
The mother of the teenager who called police also found a note, Wahl said, but declined to provide details.
Taha Hassane, the imam and director of the Islamic Centre of San Diego, thanked those who had already contacted the mosque from across the US and overseas to express condolences.
“We have never experienced tragedy like this before,” he said. “It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship.
“People come [here] to pray, to celebrate, to learn. Not only Muslims, but we have people from all walks of life.
“This is something that we have never expected.”
All children and staff at the adjacent school were safe, Hassane added.
US President Donald Trump, when asked about the incident during a White House function about healthcare, said he had been given some “early updates” but would receive a further briefing later.
“It’s a terrible situation,” he said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said his state stood with the Muslim community and sent its deepest condolences to the families and communities affected by the tragedy.
“Worshippers anywhere should not have to fear for their lives,” Newsom said. “Hate has no place in California, and we will not tolerate acts of terror or intimidation against communities of faith.”
The shooting has triggered more debate about Islamophobia in the febrile American political climate. In New York, the city’s first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said Islamophobia was endangering Muslims around the country and must be confronted head-on.
He said the New York Police Department would increase deployments to mosques across the city out of an abundance of caution, though there were no known threats.
At the same time, Trump ally Laura Loomer – a prominent MAGA activist and conspiracy theorist who has influence with the president – told her 1.9 million followers the shooting was a “false flag” attack by Muslims, and said the best way to protect Muslims in America was to deport them all to the Middle East.
The attack comes days after the Albanese government’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, warned the government could not afford to “wait for another Christchurch [mosque shooting]” before responding to his report on Islamophobia, handed down in September.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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