The news text discusses a shooting incident at the Islamic Center of San Diego, where two teenagers were killed. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime, and the shooters were identified as Cain Lee Clark and Caleb Liam Vazquez. The text also mentions the discovery of a manifesto and the involvement of neo-Nazi ideology.
before fatally shooting themselves met online, where they were radicalized by hate, authorities said Tuesday. A manifesto had been recovered, and Monday’s attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego is being investigated as a hate crime.
‘He was my protector’: Daughter of security guard at San Diego mosque remembers her dad as her hero The shooters have been identified as Cain Lee Clark, 17, and Caleb Liam Vazquez, 18. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said that, after meeting each other online, the teens came to realize they both lived in the San Diego area.
‘But in terms of how the radicalization occurred, we’re still digging into all that,’ he said. Inside the SUV the teens used during Monday’s attack, Remily said, investigators identified ‘writings and various ideologies outlining religious and racial beliefs of how the world they envision should look. ’ Authorities did not offer more details on any of the writings they found.
Manifestos that purport to be authored by the suspects are circulating online and have been reviewed by extremism experts and by The San Diego Union-Tribune. The manifestos — together consist of 75 pages rife with slurs and neo-Nazi symbols — call for the massacre of a cross-section of religious and ethnic groups and others. The works also cite neo-Nazi or White supremacist ideology.
In the manifestos, the authors call themselves followers of the White supremacist who shot and killed 51 people and injured scores of others at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019. That gunman was also cited by the shooter in the San Diego area’s deadly Chabad of Poway synagogue shooting later that year. Remily said 30 guns and a crossbow, belonging to the parents of one of the teens, were recovered as part of their investigation.
Authorities searched three homes associated with the teens and seized ‘numerous’ firearms — pistols, rifles, shotguns — from two locations. They also recovered ammunition, tactical gear and electronics. Asked to verify online video footage of the teens apparently livestreaming the incident, Wahl said he was ‘aware of that information’ and that investigators were still going through electronics.
Two hours before the attack Monday, the mother of the younger suspect, Clark, reported to police that her son had gone missing, that he was possibly suicidal and that he’d taken her vehicle and guns. He was with an 18-year-old companion, and the two were wearing camouflage, according to police. Police, sensing a larger public threat, tried to track down the teens.
Then reports of a shooting came in at the Islamic Center. The teens arrived at the Islamic Center of San Diego around 11:40 a.m., and a security guard in the parking lot engaged them in a gun battle, Wahl said. Security video shows the guard reach for his radio to call for a lockdown of the mosque, which alerted people inside, including students and staff at the center’s school, to danger and helped them get to safety.
‘His actions without a doubt delayed, distracted, and ultimately deterred these two individuals from gaining access to the greater areas of the mosque where as many as 140 kids were within 15 feet,’ Wahl said. The gun battle continued, and the guard was fatally shot. The gunmen entered the mosque and started moving room to room, but found no one.
The chief said video shows one of the teens pointing to a window, then both headed outside to the parking lot, where they cornered and fatally shot two other members of the mosque. The pair immediately ran to their vehicle and headed out as police approached.
‘The massive response that was just seconds away undoubtedly pushed both of the suspects to run back to their vehicle and flee,’ Wahl said. On Monday, May 18, 2026 in San Diego, CA., not from the Islamic Center of San Diego, several people embrace one another. Five dead, including two teenage suspects, at San Diego mosque shooting. A security guard at the Islamic Center of San Diego was among those killed outside the building on Monday morning, police said.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune) San Diego, CA – Ted and Marne Celanya enter their home as law enforcement agencies stage outside the suspected house of two gunman Monday, May 18, 2026, after a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego that left five people dead, including two suspects, in San Diego, CA. The Celaya’s live directly next door. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune) San Diego, CA – Law enforcement agencies stage outside the suspected house of two gunman Monday, May 18, 2026, after a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego that left five people dead, including two suspects, in San Diego, C
San Diego Mosque Shooting Hate Crime Investigation Neo-Nazi Ideology Manifesto White Supremacist Christchurch Shooting Chabad Of Poway Synagogue Shooting
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