Two teenagers shot and killed three people on Monday at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in San Diego County. Police officers arrived at the scene and found the attackers dead in a car nearby.
The killings are being investigated as a hate crime and have touched off concerns about increasing Islamophobia in the United States.
Threats and violence against U.S. religious institutions have risen, fueled by the wars in the Middle East, prompting increased security at mosques, synagogues and churches across the country. In response to the attack, several police departments in California and in cities elsewhere in the United States said they would increase patrols of mosques, Islamic cultural centers and other houses of worship as a precaution.
Here’s what to know.
What happened?
The first police officers on the scene found the bodies of three people just outside the entrance to the Islamic center.
Among the three killed was a security guard whom officials credited with preventing a more deadly massacre at the mosque.
A person who lives across the street said that she saw a security guard outside the mosque in a tactical vest get hit by at least two gunshots. He fell, then stood up and went inside, she said.
Later, a landscaper was shot at from a vehicle a few blocks away from the Islamic Center. The bullet may have ricocheted against the helmet he was wearing, which likely saved his life, Chief Scott Wahl of the San Diego Police Department said.
A few minutes later, the police found a vehicle in the street with the two dead suspects inside. They appeared to have died from self-inflicted gunshots after opening fire at the mosque, Chief Wahl said.
Authorities have not identified the three victims or the two suspects.
Who are the suspects?
The police said that the suspects were ages 17 and 18.
They included the son of a woman who, hours before the attack, had warned the San Diego police that he and a companion had taken several guns from her home, as well as her car. The police began a hunt for the two teenagers in San Diego, California’s second-largest city.
Investigators recovered anti-Islamic writing in the car where the suspects were found dead, two law enforcement officials said. The words “hate speech” were written on one of the firearms used in the attack, they said, and one of the suspects had left a suicide note.
What is the Islamic Center of San Diego?
The Islamic Center of San Diego, in the city’s Clairemont neighborhood, is the largest mosque in San Diego County and draws attendees from all over the world. Its services are in English and its grounds include a school.
The mosque’s website says that its mission is to “work with the larger community to serve the less fortunate, to educate and to better our nation.” It holds prayers five times a day, as well as a Friday sermon.
The center said in a statement that it was “heartbroken by the tragic shooting incident,” calling it an “extremely painful and traumatic day for our congregation.”
Claire Moses is a Times reporter in London, focused on coverage of breaking and trending news.
The post What to Know About the San Diego Mosque Shooting appeared first on New York Times.
