The mother of one of the suspects in today’s shooting outside a San Diego mosque complex warned police earlier in the day that her son had run away, taken multiple weapons and might be suicidal.
She added that the teen had left with a companion, and that both were wearing camouflage clothing, police said Monday.
Officers were speaking with the woman and fanning out across the city looking for the teens when the midday shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego was called in.
A total of five people, including three victims, are dead in connection with the shooting.
Upon arriving at the mosque compound, police encountered three dead adults. One was a security guard, whom police credited with stopping the shooting from being much worse.
Nearby, after receiving calls about shots fired at a landscaper, police found the two male suspects, 17 and 18, in a car, dead of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
The FBI is assisting in investigating the shooting, which is being treated as a potential hate crime by local police until proven otherwise.
Investigators found anti-Islamic writing in the vehicle with the suspects, and the words ‘hate speech’ were written on a weapon used in the attack, law enforcement sources told The New York Times.
