Five dead, including two suspects, after shooting at San Diego mosque

Two teenage gunman opened fire on Monday at the Islamic Center of ‌San Diego ⁠in ⁠California, killing three men outside the mosque, one of them a security guard, before the two suspects were found dead, apparently from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, police said.

All of the children who were attending a day school that is part of the mosque complex - the largest in San Diego county - were accounted for and safe after the shooting, which erupted shortly before 12 ⁠noon PDT (1900 ‌GMT), according to San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl.

Wahl said the FBI was called in to assist in the investigation of ⁠the incident, which the police chief said authorities were treating as a hate crime.


Scores of law enforcement officers called to the Islamic Center encountered the bodies of three men shot dead outside the building, including a security guard who Wahl credited with likely having helped prevent further bloodshed.

A short time later, police discovered the bodies of two teenage males, aged 17 and 19, in a ‌vehicle in the middle of a street, dead from apparently self-inflicted gunshot wounds, the chief said at an afternoon news conference.

He said investigators were still ⁠piecing together details of what precipitated the shooting and how the violence transpired.

Shots were also fired at a landscaper a couple of blocks away in what apparently was a separate shooting incident, though police did not say whether a connection had been ruled out. The landscaper was not injured, Wahl said.