Three people, including a security guard, died this Monday in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the main mosque in the Southern California city.
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The two attackers also died, police said. They were teenagers, whose lifeless bodies were found by officers several blocks from the scene, in a car near the mosque, according to a press conference by Mark Remily, special agent in charge of the FBI office in San Diego. Scott Wahl, chief of San Diego police, later stated that they had committed suicide.
It is not yet clear what their motivations were, although authorities are investigating the shooting as a “hate crime,” Wahl noted, also explaining that officers responded to reports of an active shooter around noon (local time, nine hours ahead in mainland Spain). Also, upon arrival, they found three people dead. Subsequently, they located the two suspects dead.
The Islamic Center of San Diego is a mosque, but it also houses a school. Its director, Imam Taha Hassane, expressed on Monday that he was “outraged at the attack on a place of worship.” “It is a moment of pain, a moment of sadness. We had never before experienced a tragedy like this. And at this moment, the only thing I can say is that we send our prayers and stand in solidarity with all the families in our community,” Hassane declared.
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The attack is the latest in a series of attacks against religious institutions in the United States, which has led to increased security measures around these centers. In March, a man attacked a synagogue, which also housed an elementary school, on the outskirts of Detroit. He rammed his truck into the building, causing a fire. He later died in a confrontation with security guards.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, told reporters at the White House that he was informed about the shooting. “It’s terrible,” Trump said about the attack on the mosque. Other national political figures, such as California Governor Gavin Newsom, also publicly expressed interest in the incident.
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