Two teenagers have been identified as the perpetrators behind a deadly attack on a mosque in San Diego. The individuals, Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, donned camouflage attire for their assault on the Islamic Center of San Diego.
Armed with a 9mm handgun, a shotgun, and a mini 14 rifle—reportedly taken from Clark’s mother’s residence—the duo left their home and launched their attack around 11:40 a.m. at the mosque, which also functions as a school.
The tragic incident resulted in the deaths of three people outside the religious center before Clark and Vazquez turned the firearms on themselves.
Authorities reported that the teens were clad in military-style gear and noted their getaway vehicle as a 2018 BMW X1 SUV, providing this information over police radios shortly after the attack.
Among the victims was Amin Abdullah, a security guard at the mosque and a father of eight children.
Anees Faraj, a colleague and friend of Amin who was off duty at the time, expressed shock at the tragic events and confirmed Amin’s identity as one of those killed.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said that Amin and his actions helped prevent an even deadlier attack and added: ‘His actions were heroic and he undoubtedly saved lives today.’
TV footage from a helicopter showed armed response teams gathered outside a building, with one unidentified person lying in a pool of blood.
The place of worship, the largest in San Diego, is also home to the Al Rashid school, which educates children from kindergarten to the third grade. The imam of the mosque confirmed that no children were injured during the shooting.
Cain Clark, 17, was one of two teenagers who opened fire at a California mosque on Monday before taking his own life. Police named the other suspect as Caleb Vazquez, 18, who has not yet been pictured
Officers arrived on the scene in just four minutes, as they had already been searching for the teenagers after Clark’s mother alerted cops to the threat
Images from the scene showed a red gasoline canister with a sticker resembling a Nazi SS logo, as a shotgun lay nearby
Who was Cain Clark?
Clark had been a San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts student before he was enrolled in online learning in 2021, San Diego Unified School District spokesperson James Canning told CNN.
The teen continued to stay involved in his local high school’s campus activities, including Madison High School’s wrestling team who Clark competed with for two years in 2024 and 2025.
‘They took all of their classes online. They talked with teachers online. That was the parent’s choice to move them into that school,’ Canning said.
This year, however, Clark did not participate in any events or activities, the outlet reported.
‘It’s important to point out that, this year, that student was not on campus at all,’ Canning added.
The teenager had been on track to graduate and was said to have had no disciplinary record, aside from one report of punching someone in the leg in elementary school in 2015, Canning said.
A former teammate on the team said Clark had never expressed notions of Islamophobia, violence or racially charged viewpoints, and that the teenager had been finding community among the other wrestlers, according to the outlet.
‘He seemed like he was a good kid,’ the teammate, who has not been identified, told CNN.
The teen continued to stay involved in his local high school’s campus activities, including Madison High School’s wrestling team who Clark competed with for two years in 2024 and 2025
Panicked parents arrived at the scene to retrieve their children after the two teenage gunman opened fire
Two women were seen embracing as they left a reunification center following the shooting
‘He didn’t seem like he would do something like that. The kid was trying to fit in. He was always just trying his best – he was trying to fit in and find friends.’
However, a suicide note found on at Clark’s home appeared to evidence anti-Islamic rhetoric and expressed notions of ‘racial pride,’ sources told the Los Angeles Times.
Hate speech was also found scrawled onto one of the guns.
The note, according to Wahl, ‘began to trigger a larger threat assessment,’ but he added that ‘there was no specific threat, especially no specific threat to the Islamic Center.’
‘It was just general hate kind of speech that I think covered a wide gamut,’ he added.
Hours before the attack, Clark’s mother had called law enforcement to report that her suicidal son and car were both missing as well as three weapons, and that he had left her home with another person, according to Wahl.
Clark’s grandparents, David and Deborah Clark, told CNN that they were ‘trying to process’ the catastrophe and are ‘very sorry for what happened.’
This is a developing story.
