Authorities have identified the San Diego mosque shooters as having been “radicalized online,” revealing that they adorned themselves with Nazi symbols and inscribed racist messages on their gear during the attack that claimed three lives outside an Islamic Center.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, police officials disclosed that the two teenage suspects “harbored indiscriminate hatred,” and authorities have seized more than 30 firearms and a crossbow linked to the individuals involved.
The FBI is currently investigating a livestream of the chilling incident, which shows Cain Clark prominently displaying a Black Sun emblem on his chest, a symbol historically associated with Nazi Germany. This emblem was notably integrated into the flooring of Heinrich Himmler’s Wewelsburg castle.
Additionally, an insignia linked to the Atomwaffen Division, a minor online neo-Nazi faction, is visible on one of the attackers’ shoulders. In German, “Atomwaffen” translates to “atomic weapons.”
There is no confirmed evidence at this time regarding whether the teenagers were formal members of the Atomwaffen Division.
Further examination of one shooter’s handgun reveals the phrase “race war now” inscribed above a swastika. Advocates of neo-Nazi and white nationalist ideologies often call for race wars as part of their agenda to topple governments or establish a white-only state.
The teen killers gunned down three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday. Among the dead included security guard and father of eight Amin Abdullah, who police say prevented more deaths, as well as a grocery store owner and another man.
Once back inside their vehicle, the livestream video showed Clark shoot his companion twice in the head before turning the gun on himself.
Anti-Islamic writings were also found in the suspects’ vehicle, according to a law enforcement source.
A shotgun and gas can with an “SS” sticker on the side, which appears to represent the Schutzstaffel paramilitary group from Nazi Germany were located at the scene where the gunmen’s bodies were discovered.
Clark and Velasquez were found dead inside a BMW from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, only a few blocks from the Islamic Center of San Diego.
The shooters’ motivations are unknown, though it appears to be a crime aimed at the Muslim faith.
