Three grownup males, certainly one of whom was a safety guard, have been killed in a taking pictures on the Islamic Heart of San Diego on Monday, authorities mentioned.
The safety guard appeared to play a “pivotal function” in retaining the taking pictures from “being a lot worse,” police mentioned at a information convention, noting that the victims have been came upon entrance of the middle.
“His actions have been heroic,” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl mentioned of the safety guard throughout a press briefing Monday. “Undoubtedly he saved lives as we speak.”
Gregory Bull/AP Picture – PHOTO: Folks stand behind police tape on the scene of a taking pictures exterior the Islamic Heart of San Diego, Might 18, 2026.
All kids are secure, police mentioned. Photographs confirmed kids being evacuated from the world.
One individual suffered a “non-firearm-related harm whereas responding to the incident” and was taken to San Diego’s Sharp Memorial Hospital, in accordance with hospital officers.
Each suspects, ages 17 and 18, are useless from obvious self-inflicted gunshot wounds, police mentioned. Authorities initially mentioned one of many suspects was 19, earlier than later updating the age.
Mike Blake/Reuters – PHOTO: Emergency staff reply on the scene of a reported lively shooter state of affairs on the Islamic Heart in San Diego, Calif., Might 18, 2026.
The taking pictures on the Islamic Heart of San Diego was reported shortly earlier than midday Monday, police mentioned.
Whereas officers have been responding to the mosque, the police division “started to obtain calls from only a couple blocks away that we had extra lively gunfire,” police mentioned on the information convention.
At that scene, a landscaper was shot at, police mentioned. The person might have been shot in a helmet, although that’s “not completely confirmed at this level,” Wahl mentioned.
KGTV – PHOTO: Individuals are led away by police from the Islamic Heart of San Diego, Might 18, 2026.
KGTV – PHOTO: Individuals are led away by police from the Islamic Heart of San Diego, Might 18, 2026.
“Moments later,” police mentioned, officers have been referred to as to a different location close by the place they discovered a automobile in the course of the road, and there police mentioned they found each suspects useless.
Police are investigating a possible motive however mentioned the taking pictures is at the moment being thought-about a hate crime.
“There was positively hate rhetoric that was concerned,” Wahl mentioned.
Anti-Islamic writings have been discovered within the car with the 2 teenagers, sources advised ABC Information.
Map Tile by Google Earth – PHOTO: Taking pictures at San Diego Islamic Heart
About two hours earlier than the taking pictures on the mosque, San Diego police acquired a name involving one of many suspects, a few runaway juvenile, in accordance with Wahl. The teenager’s mom reported that “a number of of her weapons” and her car have been lacking, he mentioned. The mom additionally discovered a notice, Wahl mentioned, the contents of which the police chief didn’t share.
The mom advised police that her son was with one other particular person and that they have been each “wearing camo,” Wahl mentioned.
Officers have been trying to trace down the car and dispatched police to a mall and to a college with which one of many teenagers was related, when the taking pictures on the mosque was reported, he mentioned.
There was no particular risk to the varsity, the Islamic heart or another facility, Wahl careworn, although the “further bits of data led us to imagine that there was an even bigger risk image right here that we would have liked to think about.”
Gregory Bull/AP Picture – PHOTO: A lady cries on the scene of a taking pictures exterior the Islamic Heart of San Diego, Might 18, 2026, in San Diego.
Gregory Bull/AP Picture – PHOTO: Folks embrace on the scene of a taking pictures exterior the Islamic Heart of San Diego, Might 18, 2026, in San Diego.
The Islamic Heart of San Diego says it’s the largest mosque in San Diego County.
“We’ve by no means skilled a tragedy like this earlier than,” Taha Hassan, Imam and Director of Islamic Heart of San Diego, mentioned on the information convention.
Hassan mentioned he is sending “prayers and standing in solidarity with all of the households in our group right here, and in addition the opposite mosques, and all of the locations of worship in our stunning metropolis.”
“We strongly condemn this horrifying act of violence,” Tazheen Nizam, the manager director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, mentioned in an announcement. “Our ideas are with everybody impacted by this assault. Nobody ought to ever concern for his or her security whereas attending prayers or finding out at an elementary college.”
Gregory Bull/AP Picture – PHOTO: A sheriff’s deputy levels on the scene of a taking pictures exterior the Islamic Heart of San Diego, Might 18, 2026.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria advised ABC Information that “we instantly have elevated patrols round non secular websites, each our Muslim, Jewish and different religion communities throughout the town. And I think about we’ll preserve that posture for a while.”
“[I] imagine that when the investigation is full that that safety guard can be credited with an amazing saving of many, many lives, together with many kids, an absolute hero who sadly misplaced his life, however for whom we’re all grateful,” Gloria added.
In New York Metropolis, the NYPD mentioned there’s “no identified nexus to NYC or particular threats to NYC homes of worship,” however the division mentioned it’s growing officer deployments to mosques “out of an abundance of warning.”
“I’m horrified by the lethal assault on the Islamic Heart of San Diego, an obvious act of anti-Muslim violence,” New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani mentioned in an announcement on X. “Islamophobia endangers Muslim communities throughout this nation. We should confront it instantly and stand collectively in opposition to the politics of concern and division. My ideas are with the victims, their family members, and all the group grieving this devastating assault.”
This can be a growing story. Please examine again for updates.