00:09A gas canister, an SS insignia, and two teenagers dead in a stolen BMW just blocks from where
00:18three men lay dying.
00:20What happened outside the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18, 2026 wasn't random.
00:28It was planned.
00:29And the new details investigators are uncovering paint a picture that is deeply disturbing.
00:36The Islamic Center of San Diego sits in the Clermont neighborhood.
00:41It's the largest mosque in San Diego County, and it has an on-site school, pre-K through
00:47third grade, with children inside when the attack began.
00:51Just before noon on a Sunday, shots rang out.
00:55By the time police arrived, within minutes, three men were dead outside.
01:00And the two suspects?
01:02Found dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a vehicle parked just a few blocks away
01:09on Hatton Street.
01:10But what was inside that vehicle, and on that vehicle, is where this story gets chilling.
01:18Photographed outside the suspect's car, a gas container bearing an SS insignia, the Schutzstaffel,
01:26the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party responsible for running concentration camps during the Holocaust.
01:33That symbol wasn't accidental.
01:37Investigators also found anti-Islamic writings in the vehicle.
01:41And on at least one of the firearms recovered at the scene, words of hate speech written directly
01:48onto the gun.
01:49This is now being investigated as a hate crime.
01:53The FBI is involved.
01:55Investigators are combing through digital footprints, looking for signs of online radicalization
02:01and any links to organized extremist groups.
02:05The two suspects were 17-year-old Kane Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Vasquez.
02:12Here's what makes this even more haunting.
02:15That morning, before the attack, Clark's own mother called police.
02:20She reported him missing, suicidal.
02:24She told officers her car had been taken, along with several firearms.
02:29Police were with her when the shooting happened.
02:32When she later returned home, she found a suicide note.
02:37Its contents have not been released.
02:39But officers who heard her account that morning sensed, in their words, a bigger threat picture.
02:46They were right.
02:47Now, the part of this story that deserves to be told just as loudly.
02:53Amin Abdullah was a security guard at the Islamic Center, a father of eight.
02:59When the shooting started, he didn't run.
03:02He confronted the attackers.
03:04He told people to close the doors.
03:07He took action.
03:08And according to community members and investigators, his intervention is the reason the gunman never
03:15got inside.
03:16He was shot.
03:18He did not survive.
03:19San Diego's police chief, the mayor, the governor, and the president all issued statements.
03:26Security was immediately increased at mosques and religious sites across the region.
03:32Imam Taha Hassan addressed his community, a community shattered but standing.
03:39What we know right now is this.
03:41Good afternoon.
03:43My name is Taha Hassan.
03:45I'm the Imam and Director of the Islamic Center of San Diego.
03:49I know it's time of sorrow, time of sadness.
03:52We have never experienced a tragedy like this before.
03:58And at this moment, all what I can say is sending our prayers and standing in solidarity
04:07with all the families in our community here.
04:12And also the other mosques and all the places of worship in our beautiful city should always
04:22be protected.
04:24It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship.
04:31Our Islamic Center is a place of worship.
04:34People come to the Islamic Center to pray, to celebrate, to learn.
04:42Not only Muslims, but we have people from all walks of life.
04:47Just this morning, earlier, a group of people, non-Muslims coming just to learn about our faith
04:54and our cultures.
04:58So this is something that we have never expected.
05:01And I would like also to thank all the people who contacted us from all over the country and
05:08even from overseas to give condolences and to ask about is there anything they can do to help.
05:15And I would like also to thank our local authorities, our Senegal Police Department, the FBI, the Senegal
05:24Police Department, FBI and all the sheriff department, our mayor for showing up and standing in solidarity with us.
05:34So this is what I have to say.
05:35Thank you so much.
05:36Two young men, steeped in hate, targeted a house of worship on a Sunday morning.
05:43And one man, a security guard, a father, stood between them and dozens of innocent lives.
05:50The investigation is ongoing.
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