mosque

LOS ANGELES: Just days before two teenagers carried out a mass shooting at a San Diego mosque, federal law enforcement officials warned the parents of one of the shooters that their son was making concerning comments about school shootings on the dark web, according to new details included in a recently filed lawsuit.

The mother of Caleb Vazquez alleges in her lawsuit that Park Mental Health Treatment of San Diego failed to intervene despite signs that her 18-year-old son posed an imminent threat to himself and others. Vazquez was living there and receiving treatment for a range of mental health conditions, including depression and psychotic episodes, the lawsuit says. The court filings follow a number of high-profile convictions of guardians who provided teenagers with weapons that were later used in mass shootings.

The FBI called Vazquez’s mother on the evening of May 14, and she said she immediately left a message with the treatment facility to notify its staff, according to the lawsuit, filed in a San Diego court on Aug. 31. Vazquez’s mother again shared the FBI’s warnings with her son’s therapist on May 15 and with a program director later that night.

On May 18, the morning of the shooting, employees at the facility contacted Vazquez’s mother to tell her that he was missing. Video surveillance footage subsequently showed Vazquez leaving the property at 8 p.m. the night before.

Vazquez’s parents were driving around looking for him on the morning of the shooting. Vazquez and another teenager killed three people at the San Diego mosque that day before taking their own lives.

It is unclear whether Vazquez was allowed to leave the previous evening or whether he broke facility rules by doing so. Park Mental Health offers a range of treatment options, some of which advertise 24-hour surveillance, while others provide more limited counseling.

The center did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Saturday afternoon. In a previous statement to radio station KPBS, Park Mental Health disputed the assertions in the lawsuit.

“While it is understandable that his parents might seek to blame someone in their time of loss, this lawsuit is misguided in that neither Park nor its employees are responsible for Mr. Vazquez’s actions,” the statement to KPBS read. “Only he and his coconspirator bear responsibility for their conduct and, ultimately, his death.”

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment Saturday, citing agency policy.

The FBI’s alleged contact with Vazquez’s parents was not the first sign of his mental deterioration.

Vazquez had been hospitalized for roughly three days in January 2026 after telling a classmate that he wanted to carry out a school shooting.

Almost exactly a year earlier, Vazquez was flagged to law enforcement for exhibiting alarming behavior and idolizing Nazis, prompting police to confiscate 26 guns from his father under a 2014 California law allowing firearms to be taken from people considered dangerous.

Authorities have said Vazquez met the other shooter, Cain Clark, 17, online and that both were radicalized there. Police have not shared more details about how they knew each other or specified whose weapons were used in the shooting.

The lawsuit was filed on the same day that North Carolina authorities announced the indictment of a 17-year-old in connection with the shooting.

Sept. 1 (UPI) — A North Carolina grand jury has indicted a 17-year-old girl as an adult on charges of murder stemming from allegations that she aided and abetted two other teens who killed three people in a hate-filled attack on a San Diego mosque before taking their own lives.

Caleb Vazquez, 18, and Cain Clark, 17, are alleged to have shot and killed three people, including a security guard, at the Islamic Center of San Diego in California on May 18. Their bodies were found dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshots in a car parked near the scene.

On Monday, Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neil told reporters during a press conference that a 17-year-old girl was arrested last week in North Carolina and that a grand jury indicted her on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, on allegations that she livestreamed the attack, disseminated the recording afterward and released the manifesto the attackers authored to justify their crime.

Court documents identified the suspect as 17-year-old Sarah Lindsey Santiago.

“Today’s indictment sends a clear message: physical distance from an attack does not place someone beyond accountability for the role they allegedly played in making it happen,” Special Agent in Charge Mark Remily of the FBI San Diego Field Office said in a statement.

“In today’s threat environment, individuals may believe they can encourage or facilitate acts of violence from hundreds of miles away without facing consequences. This case demonstrates that law enforcement will aggressively investigate those connections and pursue accountability wherever the evidence leads, including when juveniles are involved.”

According to the indictment, she is also alleged to have purchased a “Sonnenrad” patch for Vazquez, which he wore during the attack. According to the advocacy organization Anti-Defamation League, the Sonnenrad, which translates to “Black Sun,” is a symbol associated with White supremacy and was adopted by the Nazis in the 1930s.

The court document states that the conspiracy charge stems from allegations that she, Clark and Vazquez planned to murder worshipers at the Islamic Center of San Diego but also worshipers at Kehilat Ariel Messianic Synagogue, which is also in San Diego, and Black students at an unnamed public high school.

O’Neil, in the press conference, said that aiding-and-abetting charges in North Carolina come with the same penalties as if the accused had perpetrated the crime.

“So, she didn’t have to be in California. She’s in our jurisdiction. And today, a grand jury indicted her and held her responsible for her actions,” he said.

According to police, the shooting occurred at about 11:42 a.m. on May 18.

Shortly before, at about 9:40 a.m. that morning, San Diego police received a call from Clark’s mother reporting her son was suicidal and that several of her weapons and her vehicle were missing. Her son was with a companion, both dressed in camouflage, she said.

San Diego police were working to locate the teens when the first calls of the shooting at the mosque came in.

The suspects parked in the Islamic Center’s parking lot, ran past security and opened fire, hitting 51-year-old Amin Abdullah, who exchanged gunfire, wounding Clark. Abdullah has been heralded as a hero who saved lives by initiating lockdown protocols before dying from his injuries. O’Neil said there were 140 children on the premises at the time of the shooting.

The two suspects entered the building, but then exited through the back door and into the parking lot, where they encountered Mansour Kazhia, 78, and Nadir Awad, 57, whom they shot and killed.

The suspects fled the scene in their vehicle, from which they shot at a gardener who was uninjured, before dying by suicide.

Searches of residences associated with the suspects uncovered more than 30 guns and a crossbow, including rifles, along with ammunition, tactical gear and electronics.

“There exists in our world an underground subculture. It’s an echo chamber of intense hate against different cultures and religions. Cain and Vasquez, by what is contained in their manifesto, seemed to hate everyone, regardless of skin color, politics, religion or ethnicity,” he said.

“And this underground subculture of hate, they listen to each other, they talk to each other in encoded platforms. It radicalizes one another to the point where they carry out these horrific crimes of violence and murder.”

Mass kidnappings highlight Nigeria’s security crisis in the north as elections approach.

Kidnappers have released a video of what appears to be a large group of people being held captive by armed men in a forested area in Nigeria.

The video emerged on Sunday, two days after gunmen abducted as many as 600 worshippers during Friday prayers at a mosque in Dekera village in Nigeria’s north-central Niger state.

The incident comes as Nigeria prepares for presidential elections in January, with security likely to be high on the agenda due to a wave of mass kidnappings for ransom across the north of the country.

Dekera village residents have reported that gunmen took people away in simultaneous raids on several communities.

In the video, posted on Facebook and WhatsApp and circulating widely, children can be heard crying. A gunman speaking in the Hausa language speaks directly to families of the captives, telling them to identify relatives.

“These are all your people,” the gunman ⁠says.

News agencies reported that they could not verify the exact date or location where the video was filmed. However, no older version of the video has been found posted online before Sunday.

Residents, including Abdulmutallib Muqaddas Dindi, were able to confirm the identities of some ⁠of the hostages.

“We have identified our elders, relatives, and some of us have seen their wives and children in the video,” he said.

Police and state authorities have not responded to requests for comment.

Amnesty International has urged Nigerian authorities to secure the release of the worshippers, warning of the growing threat posed by mass abductions in northern Nigeria.

State Commissioner for Information and Orientation Obed Nana told the Anadolu news agency that an operation is under way to “assess the situation, track the attackers, and facilitate the rescue of the abducted worshippers”.

Mass abductions for ransom have become common in parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, with armed gangs frequently raiding villages, schools and highways and holding abductees until the gangs are paid large sums of money.

Increasingly, the gunmen are targeting communities further south, beyond ‌hot spots in the north.

As he prepares for the election, President Bola Tinubu has faced growing criticism over lax security.

Abdul El-Sayed made history this month in Michigan by becoming the first Muslim nominated by the Democratic Party to run for the U.S. Senate. But elation among many of his fellow Muslim Americans was tempered by awareness of persisting and widespread anti-Muslim sentiment across much of the nation.

Some Republicans, including President Trump, swiftly began referring to the nominee by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, while depicting him as a danger to America. “Every single Muslim holding public office in America is a Trojan horse, and a threat to both national security and our republic,’’ said U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., in a post on X.

El-Sayed says such attacks betray a weakness in those who launch them.

“We all pray for the same things. … We want what’s good for our kids and our families,” he told MS NOW after his primary victory. “They’re going to use Islamophobia, because their ideas are tired.”

The vitriol extends far beyond the political class. Tensions related to anti-Muslim sentiment have heightened in several communities around the country, where some residents have bitterly opposed proposals to build new mosques.

“American Muslims have made incredible political and societal progress in recent years,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. He cited increased visibility in entertainment and sports and the election of Democrat Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s first Muslim mayor.

“But there also is a very concerted backlash to this progress,” Mitchell said. “You’ve seen this in the resurgence of anti-Muslim hate and rhetoric, the targeting of mosques.”

A Dallas suburb is a flashpoint

McKinney, Texas, a large suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, is one of the flashpoints. Despite angry anti-Islam remarks at a heated city council meeting on Aug. 4, the council voted unanimously to approve a site plan for the McKinney Islamic Association’s proposed new mosque, classroom building and gym.

Among those urging the council to give the plan fair treatment was George Fuller, a former mayor of McKinney, a nonpartisan position. Opponents of the mosque project booed him, and some shouted “traitor” as he left the council chamber. One woman could be seen on video physically accosting him.

“I have never witnessed so much hate, anger and lack of humanity in our beautiful community gathered in one place as I did today at City Hall,” Fuller later wrote on Facebook.

During the hearing, which lasted more than four hours, the speakers included U.S. Rep. Keith Self, a Republican whose district includes McKinney. To loud applause, he urged the council to reject the mosque proposal.

“I know you’re in the accommodation phase, but the intimidation phase follows quickly,” Self said. “Child marriage. Honor killings. Don’t tell me it can’t happen here.”

Fuller also went to the microphone, evoking the broader phenomenon of divisive political rhetoric.

“Sadly, we live in a time when some have discovered that the easiest way to gain attention or win elections is not by offering solutions but by manufacturing fear, dividing communities, demonizing neighbors and turning misinformation into a political strategy,” he said.

In North Carolina, anger flares over approval for a new mosque

The scenario was similar in Mooresville, North Carolina, when town commissioners held a public comment session on Aug. 3 about a proposed mosque that had already been approved, with early phases of construction underway.

Angry residents at the meeting voiced hostility to Islam and assailed the commissioners for not being more forthcoming about the project as it took shape over previous months. One speaker cited violence in Nigeria by Islamist extremists as a reason for concern in Mooresville. Another depicted Islam as “a political regime with the ultimate goal of takeover in regions and nations.”

CAIR’s regional manager, Al Rieder, issued a statement denouncing “the hateful and conspiratorial anti-Muslim rhetoric” that surfaced at the meeting and expressed concern about the safety of Muslims in the area about 25 miles north of Charlotte.

“Muslims are your neighbors, your doctors, your teachers, your local politicians, your police,” he said.

A few hours after the public meeting, the town commissioners released a summary of the mosque project, which calls for a two-building Islamic center on a parcel acquired in 2019 by a local Muslim organization.

The commissioners said that the parcel is in an area zoned to allow religious assembly and that the mosque proposal was handled the same way as a proposal for a new church.

“All decisions must be based on adopted ordinances, objective standards and legal requirements, which do not allow for different rules for different religious groups,” the commissioners said. “We encourage all members of our community to remain respectful in their discussions and interactions as this project moves through the appropriate processes.”

In Oklahoma, Muslim leaders fight against the rebuff of a new mosque

A mosque controversy has been raging for many months in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Tulsa’s largest suburb.

Back in January, at a stormy meeting attended by hundreds of people, the city council voted 4-1 to reject a rezoning proposal by the region’s Islamic Society to build Broken Arrow’s first mosque. Before the vote, dozens of residents voiced anti-Muslim views while opposing the project.

Council members who rejected the mosque had raised concerns about its potential impact on infrastructure such as roads, sewers and flood plain management.

But the Islamic Society is persisting with its quest. On Aug. 3, it filed a lawsuit against the mayor and four councilors, alleging that the vote reflected “a wave of bigoted opposition from members of the community and local politicians.” The lawsuit contends that the council violated state and federal laws governing religious land use, treating the mosque proposal differently from other comparable rezoning requests.

“They did not want a mosque in their city. They did not want Muslims here,” said Meghan Murphy, an attorney with CAIR’s Legal Defense Fund, at a news conference announcing the lawsuit. ”So they made up a reason, and in doing so they violated the law.”

Some see a terrorism threat while others see baseless scaremongering

Opposition to mosque construction isn’t a new phenomenon: In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, an effort launched in 2010 to block a mosque project dragged on for more than three years. The mosque was built anyway as the case moved through the courts, but members of the Muslim community faced public protests, vandalism, arson and a bomb threat during that span.

The latest anti-mosque campaigns coincide with a broad wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric from Republican officeholders over the past year. In Congress, several bills were introduced targeting sharia, the moral and spiritual framework that guides Muslims in prayer and ethical conduct. Some Republicans say they’re concerned about growing Muslim populations in major cities and potential ties to terrorism — fears that CAIR and other civil rights groups say are unfounded and being exploited for political purposes.

Republican governors in Texas and Florida have endorsed efforts to shut down CAIR, saying it has ties to terrorism. CAIR has denied the allegations and filed lawsuits calling the governors’ efforts unconstitutional.

Muslim American leaders view the vitriol as political scaremongering.

“Every election year, we expect a rise in anti-Muslim hate,” said CAIR’s Mitchell. “It’s been worse this year than it has been in years.”

Crary writes for the Associated Press.