United States: Two teens kill three in shooting at California mosque

The United States is once again in mourning due to gun violence. This time, it appears to have been driven by Islamophobia. Three people were killed on Monday in an attack on a mosque in California, carried out by two teenagers who reportedly committed suicide before the police arrived.

The two shooters entered the Islamic Center of San Diego late in the morning, which houses the largest mosque in this city of 1.4 million inhabitants, as well as a school for children. They killed three people and were found dead in a car near the place of worship.

Chief of police in San Diego, Scott Wahl, stated, “At this point, it appears that the suspects died as a result of gunshot wounds that they inflicted on themselves.” The presumed shooters were 17 and 18 years old.

The motivation of the suspects remains to be clarified. However, the police are treating this incident as an Islamophobic attack. According to initial findings of the investigation, “there was clearly hateful discourse involved,” explained Scott Wahl. “There was no specific threat, particularly no specific threat against the Islamic center, it was simply a type of general hateful discourse that covered a wide range.”

The shooting led to a massive deployment of heavily armed police officers. When the first responders arrived on the scene, four minutes after the initial alerts, they found “three dead” in front of the Islamic center. Among these victims, a security officer reportedly “played a crucial role in preventing the situation from being much worse.” The children were evacuated from the school and all placed in safety.

Before taking their own lives, the two shooters also attempted to target a gardener in the neighborhood, but failed to injure him, according to the police. Furthermore, one of the shooters had been reported to the police as a “runaway minor” by his mother, early in the morning. She described her son as “suicidal” and explained that he had disappeared with his car and several weapons.

According to her description, her son left with a friend and both were dressed in camouflage. This prompted the police to send officers around his high school, before receiving reports of gunfire at the mosque. The teenager left a note behind, the contents of which Scott Wahl refused to disclose. However, the police chief doubted the theory that the teenager was suicidal.

As the investigation progresses, San Diego and the United States are in shock. Especially since this attack took place on the first day of Dhou al-hijja, a sacred period for the Muslim community. Donald Trump, on the other hand, lamented a “terrible situation.”