Police give update on San Diego mosque shooting that killed three people
Let me start off by
Extending heartfelt condolences to the Muslim community
To the families of the 3 that are deceased
Because of the horrific actions of today
This is a city's and a community's absolute worst nightmare
as a free society
And I appreciate all of your patience as we try
to work through in peace
This scene back together again
I have some updated information
And I want to make sure everybody has
At about 9:42 this morning
We received a call of a runaway juvenile
After speaking with the mom
Mom began to piece together bits and pieces of information
over an extended period of time
The information that she was gathering and conveying to us
began to elevate
The threat level That we were perceiving with this information
She believed her son was suicidal
And she began to share information that Several of her
weapons were missing
Her vehicle was missing in addition to her son
She also said that she was her son was with
a companion
In that They were dressed in camo
And that is not consistent with what we would typically
see from some
Buddy that is suicidal
That began to trigger a larger threat assessment picture
Our threat management unit began to take the tips and
leads that we had and utilize the technology we have
available to us
Our license plate readers was at the top of that
list
We began to have
Uh we we noted that there were hits with the
vehicle down in Fashion Valley
We dispatched officers into the area of the mall
As a possible location that was a threat
We also gathered information that One of the individuals was
associated in some form or fashion with Madison High School
We alerted school school police department
And we dispatched officers into the area of Madison High
School
While we were gathering this information and we were trying
to zero in on where these individuals were at
We received the call At approximately 11:43
That there was an active shooter
At the Islamic Center
Officers were in the area
Still talking with mom trying to piece together where
They might be The locations that she felt that they
would be at
And that was just a few blocks away
Those officers once they heard what was happening at the
Islamic Center immediately dispatched themselves to
The mosque And just to recap what we talked about
earlier when officers arrived on scene they came across
In some form or fashion 3 deceased individuals victims
One was a security guard at the center
Was he the big guy We'll get some questions in
just a minute sir
Thank you
Because of what the officers were encountering and because we
know that this is a large gathering facility with kids
with adults with community members
From throughout our county
Officers immediately began to enter the facility
Utilizing our active shooter protocol looking for a suspect or
two
At the same and in about the same time as
they were making entry and searching through the facility room
by room
We got we received calls of a vehicle a couple
blocks away that was shooting at a landscaper
The landscaper's gonna be OK but we are still investigating
that scene
It appears he may have been shot in the helmet
that deflected and saved his life but that is not
totally confirmed at this point
A couple blocks away from there we also received a
call
Where a community member reported our two suspects in a
vehicle
And it appeared they had gunshot wounds
And upon our arrival we determined they were deceased
We're in the process of serving search warrants
That will continue tonight and on into the days ahead
We're going to continue following
Any leads And any information that comes forward
As we're all focused on figuring out how this happened
And what could we have done to prevent it I
will end by saying
It's not a cliche
If you see something if you hear something if you
know something that is an integral part
Of preventing things like this from happening and it's an
integral part for us to be able to take that
information utilize the tools that we have to try to
prevent something like this from happening
So with that I'm gonna bring up uh Mark Remley
from the FBI to discuss a little bit more information
Thank you all for coming and thank you Chief
My name is Mark Remily
I am the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI
San Diego Field Office
As was reported earlier 3 adults have lost their lives
in today's senseless act of violence
We also know the two teenage subjects responsible are also
deceased
The FBI is determined to uncover all the facts associated
with this incident and learn why the shooting occurred at
the Islamic Center of San Diego
Here's what we know at this time after our preliminary
assessment and working closely with our law enforcement partners to
gather evidence
Victim specialists deployed to the reunification center at 4125 Hathaway
in San Diego
We're also having additional victim services personnel deployed from our
headquarters in Washington DC to assist with the families that
have been impacted
Our bomb techs have cleared the vehicle associated with the
subjects
We are in the process of interviewing family and friends
of the subjects and evidence tech evidence response teams are
gathering all the evidence from the scene for review
We will process everything as quickly but as meticulously as
we can
We can thank you for your patience as we work
through the scene
The FBI stands with the communities we serve and our
hearts weigh heavy for those killed and everyone who's subjected
to this violence today
Shooting incidents like this not only impact those within the
immediate vicinity
But everyone in the community also feels the effects
We will continue to coordinate with our law enforcement partners
and work closely with them for as long as it
takes until we understand what happened
We will leave no stone unturned
We thank the public for your continued cooperation as we
continue to work through this active investigation
We ask that you send photos videos or any visual
evidence or information you may have to FBI.gov/Islamic Center of
San Diego shooting
As I mentioned earlier no piece of information is too
small
Everything helps us gather all the relevant evidence we need
to better understand why this horrific incident occurred
So with that I'm gonna turn it over to the
mayor for some comments
Thank you
Fucking direct results of your leadership your leadership
Our Muslim brothers and sisters have been talking to you
for how long You have to fucking listen to them
Todd
Just like you did with ice you have rolled in
ice
You have rolled in science propaganda and you'll keep doing
it as long as it lines your fucking pockets won't
it Show something
Worse approval rating than a fascist dictator with shit in
his pants
Yeah Today our city was shaken
By a violent act of hate here at the Islamic
Center of San Diego and my heart is with every
person that is impacted by this horrific tragedy
No one in our city should live in fear because
of their identity their faith or their place of learning
I'm grateful to the San Diego Police Department our San
Diego Fire and Rescue Department and our partners at the
local state and federal level all of whom showed up
here to help with this investigation and this response and
help to bring this threat to an end
This tragedy is particularly hurtful to our Muslim community as
it comes together at the start of the dual Hilidaj
one of Islam's holiest periods leading up to the Hajj
and the Eid al-Adha a time of deep faith
Reflection and unity
Hate has no home in San Diego
Islamophobia has no home in San Diego
An attack on any San Diegan is an attack on
all San Diegans and we will not stand for it
in America's finest city
Let there be no misunderstanding for anyone who would seek
to bring this kind of violence to this city
You will be met with the full force of our
law enforcement partnerships
Anyone who seeks to do harm here will understand the
response will be swift and you will be brought to
justice
In the meantime I want to assure San Diegans in
particular our Muslim brothers and sisters the San Diego Police
Department will be guarding all of our local houses of
worship with additional presence to assure your safety during this
very very tragic time
We'll be guarding other places of worship and making sure
that we anticipate and try to prevent the very worst
We didn't meet that mark today but
Deep gratitude to the security officer who was here whose
actions and heroicism undoubtedly saved lives and I'm grateful to
every law enforcement individual who ran toward this call to
help bring these people to justice
My prayers and my thoughts and our whole hearts community
is with the Islamic Center of San Diego and all
Muslim San Diegans
With that I'll turn it back to our chief
Before I open up to questions
We're a little over 5 hours outside of this incident
Understand the complexity of
And the dynamics of a situation like this and the
emotions that are without a doubt behind everything that's going
on
Much of what else there is to answer is is
currently being investigated and I cannot go into some of
those details
But I will do my best to try to make
sure that you guys have the information you need
Moving forward so with that I will open up to
some questions
Yes sir
Hang on Trevor go ahead
Uh Sorry can't make you
I
Yeah we are we are actively investigating this as a
hate crime
Uh uh there are details and information uh uh that
that we are investigating as to uh exactly what those
uh uh what the hate speech or the hate words
were that were conveyed
Some of that is going to have to take more
time to develop further to see where that
Information is coming from but yes it's being investigated as
a hate crime at this point
There was definitely hate rhetoric that was involved was involved
I'll leave it at that for now
Yes
Reports that he engaged with these guys in some gun
crime
It's still preliminary
We're still looking into that
We do believe the security guard was able to help
At least minimize uh uh
The situation to to to the front area of the
mosque
until we know more I don't want to speculate but
at this point I think it's fair to say his
his actions were heroic
And undoubtedly he saved lives today
Yes ma'am
Uh I don't have details but yes the call came
in as a runaway and then it it kind of
elevated as mom began to kind of piece together uh
what she was finding with her son uh being missing
She came she realized that she was missing weapons multiple
weapons
Her vehicle was missing
There there are details that she she was beginning to
develop a bigger picture as to what she was dealing
with was conveying that to our folks and and we
were trying to put that together and get out in
front of this as quickly as we could
She found some note left by him
What that note looks like what that note says I'm
not going to disclose right now
Yes sir
Search warrants that we're going to be serving I'm I'm
not going to put that information out right now
No
Some of that information we're we're that's what we're actively
looking and investigating right now
Uh Obviously we have a lot of questions
Is is what led up to this moment uh and
that will that will be ongoing in this investigation as
we move forward
I'm sorry I'm not sure at this point Yeah
We have we we we've just basically notified family of
those victims
Uh we're not gonna put out their identity right now
Uh We will we will put that information out here
in the days ahead but but for now we're not
we're not putting that information out
We're trying to protect kind of what we have
There's more work to be done and we want to
make sure that we're preserving some of that for the
moment
Yes ma'am
Uh Uh I'm gonna let Imam Taha answer that type
of question
I don't know for sure
I don't know for sure
17 and 19
suspects 17 and In 18 yeah I think it's 18
and then I I need to correct that
I think I put out earlier it was 19
I I believe it's 18
No
Unknown at least one but unknown about the other one
Also we see different threats and crime hate from around
the country
They are
It it just in general uh well I I I
think uh It's fair to say that that all religious
facilities across this country around the world uh in today's
world um are well aware of of the risks of
That are associated it's it's an unfortunate reality of the
world we live in today
Um But I I would say absolutely everybody
Feels that that that insecurity
Investigation by police
the material
Well first let me make sure I'm clear
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
Uh I don't want to go into any of the
specifics at this point
Uh again we are still actively investigating this as we
speak uh but it was more generalized
In some form or capacity uh he was associated with
the school as a student uh exactly what that capacity
is we're not sure of just yet
So the question is was there a specific threat to
the high school There was no specific threat to any
facility or any place
With what we knew there was generalized hate rhetoric in
speech
Uh Mom believed that her son was suicidal but the
additional bits of information led us to believe that there
was a bigger threat picture here that we needed to
consider
One person that's suicidal is not going to take 3
weapons from a location
Those Little bits of information were were significant and important
that triggered a much bigger threat assessment that began to
to bring additional investigators in to utilize the technology that
we have available to try to get out in front
of what we feared would be coming
But there was no specific threat to this center or
any religious facility or any school or any mall in
any way
I want to make sure that's clear
We don't we don't get that wrong
You spoke about the landscaper when you saw that um
is that confirmed that these shootings are related or is
that something Uh we're still investigating but yes we do
believe that's all associated with the larger picture of today's
events
It's not they're not they're not separate
Let me sir go ahead
I I just I wanna know and I
Yeah so first of all this is why we need
the community
This is a partnership
Public safety is a shared responsibility
It is important that people share information
When they see hear or know something
That pertains to threats of violence
That is what allows us to filter through
Who is going to cause harm and who is not
So that information is is is priority one
You know when you're going to reopen the mosque
I'll let Mom Taha speak to that
And Chief just a clarification the mother that you're speaking
about the mother of the young
The the younger
All right listen folks we'll sit here all night and
and and go question and answer
We will provide more information when more information is available
and we have more of the information confirmed that we're
now starting to speculate on
I want to make sure that you have the details
thus far so that you understand exactly what we were
responding to what we were dealing with and I'll close
by saying this
Our hearts go out to the families obviously the greater
Muslim community
We're one city
And we're one community
As police chief I am grateful
That we have police officers and sheriff's deputies
From throughout this county that dropped what they were doing
And didn't do just what they were trained to do
They did what we hired them to do to step
into harm's way to be willing to willing to run
towards gunfire
To protect people they don't even know
And so with that thank you for your patience and
uh we we will be back out in the days
ahead with more information
Thank you
My name is Taha Hassan
And the imam And the director of the Islamic Center
of San Diego
All that I can say at this moment
is that my community is mourning
My community is mourning
This is something that we have never expected to take
place
But at the same time The religious intolerance and the
hate unfortunately that exists in our nation is unprecedented
All of us we are responsible
For spreading the culture of tolerance
The culture of love
All of us we are responsible
From whatever position we have as parents as media people
As elected officials as law enforcement as religious leaders All
of us we can do something
To protect our nation to protect our society
And please I have one request with the media
Stop sharing the picture of the victims
I heard that there is a picture of an uncovered
body going on
Please respect the privacy of the families
And stop sharing these kind of pictures please
Let the families mourn
Let them pray
As we do always at the Islamic Center of San
Diego
It's a house of worship
It's not a battlefield
Come on People come to the mosque to pray to
socialize to celebrate
To enjoy their time together
Muslims and non-Muslims alike everyone have been always welcomed
Our doors are always welcomed
We never ask people when they show up at the
door of the Islamic Center we never ask them whether
you are a Muslim or not
Who are you because everyone is welcome
So let's do our best to spread this culture of
love and tolerance and sympathy
For the sake of this nation for the sake of
the future generation
Thank you so much
Thank you
Thank you that's all that we have for right now
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