By Matt Silverstein, Jana Winter, Helen Coster and Andrew Hay
SAN DIEGO, May 19 (Reuters) – “Anti-Islamic writings” were found in a vehicle connected to the two teenage suspects in Monday’s shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego that killed three people, according to a Department of Justice official with knowledge of the investigation.
The alleged gunmen have been identified as Caleb Vasquez, 18, and Cain Clark, 17, the official told Reuters on Tuesday. They were found dead in their car after the shooting, apparently from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, police said on Monday.
Police said the attack was being investigated as a hate crime but declined to offer further details about a possible motive.
Clark’s mother is cooperating with authorities, the DOJ official added. Officers sprang into action on Monday after a call from one of the boy’s mothers, who described her son as suicidal and said he had run off with her vehicle and three of her guns, according to police.
Police initially raced to a local shopping mall and the boy’s school before calls came in about the shooting at the mosque.
The Islamic Center is the largest mosque in San Diego County, California, and houses the Bright Horizon Academy. All students were safe and accounted for after Monday’s attack.
Rick Rodriguez, 69, was working in his driveway near the mosque on Monday when he heard the sound of helicopters. “I feel for all the people and kids, and now they have to think about this the rest of their lives,” he said.
A fundraising effort organized by CAIR San Diego with the Islamic Center of San Diego has raised over $1.7 million for the family of slain security guard Amin Abdullah, who authorities have credited with preventing further bloodshed.
Ahmet Kuru, a political science professor at San Diego State University, attends the mosque and knew Abdullah, who he called a “hero” and beloved community member. “Amin was always there greeting people,” Kuru said in a telephone interview.
On Monday night, police converged on a property believed to be connected to one of the suspects and sealed off the quiet residential street on which it sat. By Tuesday morning, the police tape was gone and neighbors milled around.
The house was known for its Halloween decorations, they told Reuters, but they hadn’t known the family personally. There was a monster truck in the driveway but no one appeared to be home.
“We walk past this house every day, every morning. This is our neighborhood,” said Jessica Delapena, 54. “It’s shocking.”
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday that security would be beefed up across the city.
“There’s always a concern about other sick and twisted individuals who will take inspiration from this tragedy and try and replicate,” he said. “No expense will be spared in protecting the people of this city.”
ISLAMOPHOBIA ON THE RISE
Anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias in the United States surged to record levels last year, according to a report from a leading Muslim advocacy group.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it recorded 8,683 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints in 2025, the most in any year since it began publishing data in 1996. Most complaints were about employment discrimination, immigration and asylum issues, as well as hate incidents, the report said.
On X Monday, far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer claimed without evidence that the shooting was likely planned by Muslims “to spread more Islamophobia laws & create sympathy for Islamic invaders in America.”
A self-declared “Islamophobe” who for years argued the September 11, 2001, attacks were an inside job, Loomer has 1.9 million followers on X and her own weekly online program with a devoted following.
Such “sensational” statements were nothing new, Kuru said, adding: “Some people say crazy things to get public attention.”
Trump on Monday night referred to the shooting in San Diego as a “terrible situation” and said his administration would be “looking at it very strongly.”
(Reporting by Jana Winter in Washington, D.C. and Helen Coster in New York; Additional reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico. Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage, Mark Porter and Rosalba O’Brien)
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