FBI investigating deadly San Diego mosque attack as hate crime
Former Assistant FBI Director Chris Swecker discusses the San Diego mosque shooting, noting the suspect’s mother reported missing guns before the attack. Swecker highlights the 533% rise in house of worship attacks since 2000, and praises the security guard who fought back, likely preventing more deaths in the hate crime.
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The suspects who allegedly killed three men at the Islamic Center of San Diego have been identified as 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Velasquez, the New York Post reported, citing a law enforcement source.
The suspects were found dead with apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds inside a vehicle a few blocks from the mosque following the bloodshed.
“We’re very sorry for what happened,” Clark’s grandfather, 78-year-old David Clark, told the Post. “We know as much as you do. It’s a shock.”
Clark had been on the wrestling team at Madison High School, according to the school’s social media page. A San Diego Unified School District spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Clark had been attending school virtually through iHigh Virtual Academy since 2021.
Cain Clark, 17, is pictured during a school wrestling event. (Facebook / madison.warhawk.wrestling)
While a motive remains unclear, authorities said that the deadly shooting is being investigated as a hate crime after police say authorities uncovered evidence the suspects engaged in “hate rhetoric.”
One suspect’s mother had contacted authorities and reported her son missing roughly two hours before the deadly attack, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said Monday.
Authorities searched the home of a suspect in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday, May 18, 2026, in San Diego. (Gregory Bull/AP)
The situation escalated as the mother “began to piece together bits and pieces of information” and relayed them to investigators throughout the morning, according to Wahl, including that some of her firearms and her vehicle were missing.
“With this information, she believed her son was suicidal,” Wahl said during an evening news conference.
A body covered with a tarp lies at the scene of a shooting outside the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday, May 18, 2026. (Gregory Bull/AP)
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The search for the teen took on more urgency as police learned that he was dressed in camouflage and was with an acquaintance — facts that were not consistent with someone about to die by suicide, the chief said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
