Authorities had been alerted last year to concerning behavior exhibited by one of the teenagers involved in the recent tragic shooting at a San Diego mosque. Court documents reveal that the teenager, who was one of the perpetrators, had shown an unsettling fascination with Nazis, prompting law enforcement to act by seizing his father’s firearms.
Police records indicate that during a welfare check at the home of Caleb Vazquez, officers documented his suspicious behavior, which included idolizing Nazis and mass shooters. This led to a court-sanctioned removal of 26 firearms on January 29, 2025, under a California law enacted in 2014 that permits the confiscation of weapons from individuals deemed a threat.
Initially, Vazquez’s father refused police entry into the residence when they attempted to assess the storage of his firearms.
According to an affidavit from Marco Vazquez, Caleb’s father, the family had voluntarily relocated the guns to a secure facility just days prior to the police visit.
Officials reported that 18-year-old Caleb Vazquez and 17-year-old Cain Clark had connected online, where both were radicalized. However, authorities have not disclosed further details about their relationship or specified whose firearms were involved in the mosque shooting.
On the eve of the tragic incident, Cain Clark’s mother informed police of missing weapons from her home, which led to an extensive search for the teenagers. Unfortunately, the search concluded with the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, followed by the teens taking their own lives, according to police statements.
Court filings indicate mental health struggles
Court filings show Vazquez decided to “secure all sharp knives in the home” and removed from the house the firearms that they had previously kept in a secure gun safe into an outside storage facility. The affidavit also mentions unspecified serious allegations against their son, who was also previously committed to an involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. The court filings, first reported by The New York Times, didn’t say what he was admitted for.
The Vazquez family said in a statement released Thursday that Caleb Vazquez was on the autism spectrum and had grown to resent parts of his identity – but didn’t specify what aspects were challenging to him.
“Coming from a diverse family that not only includes immigrants but Muslims as well, we always taught the importance of acceptance, compassion, and love for one another. We are proud of the different backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, and religions within our family and community,” their statement said.
“We believe this, combined with exposure to hateful rhetoric, extremist content, and propaganda spread across parts of the internet, social media, and other online platforms, contributed to his descent into radicalized ideologies and violent beliefs,” said their statement, released through their attorney Colin Rudolph.
His family said they tried to get him help
They encouraged him to seek help and he spent time in rehabilitation centers, the statement said. Vazquez’s parents did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment from The Associated Press. An attorney who represented Vazquez’s parents when their guns were confiscated also didn’t immediately respond to calls.
In writings by Vazquez and Clark that expressed white supremacist views, Vazquez wrote of having “some mental health issues” and being rejected by women. They suggest both teenagers idolized previous shooters who have died while carrying out mass shootings. The writings expressed hatred toward Jewish people, Muslims, Black people and a range of other groups.
Vazquez left the San Diego Unified School District in June 2018 after attending Washington Elementary up until the 5th grade, district spokesperson James Canning told The Associated Press. It’s unclear where he went to school after that.
Clark was enrolled in a virtual high school in the district, Canning said.
Police began searching for the teens on Monday after Clark’s mother called to say her son was suicidal and ran away. She told them he was dressed in camouflage, had taken multiple weapons from the home, and was with an acquaintance, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said earlier this week.
Officers were still interviewing the mother about places the teens might be when the shooting began at the county’s largest mosque.
De-radicalizing people is becoming more difficult
Vazquez’s father said in a 2025 court statement that his family made a concerted effort to steer Caleb Vazquez back onto the right track. He said when they locked away their weapons, they were in communication with his school, were monitoring his social media presence closely and he was in therapy twice a week.
“We observe all of his online activities, who he talks to, what he talks about, and who he is friends with,” Marco Vazquez wrote, emphasizing that he didn’t support his son’s ideology.
Some experts say it’s increasingly difficult to help people drawn to the kind of radicalism Vazquez and Clark expressed.
Samira Benz works for the Violence Prevention Network, which conducts interventions when people are radicalized into believing in violent extremism. Benz said the work has become increasingly complicated as the internet blurs ideologies and creates niche, meme-based languages that can be fleeting and hard to decipher.
“Even if a parent is looking at the phone of their child, they don’t necessarily see something bad is going on,” Benz said.
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Associated Press writers Julie Watson and Javier Arciga in San Diego contributed.
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