San Diego shooting: What we know about the high school student accused of the attack

SAN DIEGO – Authorities are trying to uncover what led two teenagers to open fire at a San Diego mosque, killing three people before killing themselves.

Early on, the focus was on one of the attackers, a San Diego high school student whose mother reported that he was suicidal and may have been armed shortly before the shooting.

The youth, 17, and the second suspect, 18, opened fire at the center on Monday morning around 11:30 am, authorities said. They were found minutes later in an area not far from the center, dead from self-inflicted wounds, according to authorities.

San Diego police are investigating the attack as a hate crime.

One of the guns had hate speech written on it, sources told The Times, and anti-Islamic writings were also found in the car.

“At least one of the suspects took a gun from his parents’ home” and left a suicide note, “writing about racial pride,” the sources said.

As of Monday afternoon, the FBI was searching the teenager’s home on Lehrer Drive, according to law enforcement sources. The house is two kilometers from the Islamic Center, located in the Clairemont Mesa area.

The teenager was enrolled in a high school in the San Diego Unified School District and was on track to graduate from high school this semester, according to district spokesman James Canning.

He previously participated in wrestling at Madison High School but did not participate in any varsity events this school year, Canning said.

“It is important for people to understand that this person was not there on Friday and then suddenly on Monday this is the situation,” said Canning. “They were in their virtual classroom.”

Although authorities did not release the teenager’s name, three sources identified him as Cain Clark.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said Monday that his department received a call from the child’s mother about a “kid who ran away.” He said the mother said there were no guns, her son went with his partner wearing camouflage clothing.

Police were interviewing him when the first calls about the shooter came in, he said.

Wahl did not specify the threats linked to the youth.

“There wasn’t a specific threat, especially a direct threat to an Islamic institution. It was just kind of general hate speech that I think covers a wide gamut,” Wahl said. “Also, we’re still investigating this as we speak, but it was normal.”

The authorities said that when they arrived at the center at around 11:45 am, they found three adults dead in front of the building. Police then received more calls about shots being fired in several areas. A local painter was shot but not injured in the 7100 block of Salerno Street. Minutes later, officers responded to the 3800 block of Salerno Street where, inside, officers found two suspects dead. Little is known about the second suspect.

Clark attended elementary and middle school in the district himself, but following the pandemic his family enrolled him full time, Canning said.

At the time of the shooting, five schools in the district near the Islamic Center were closed. San Diego Unified Supt. Fabi Bagula said in a statement on Monday that “hate has no place in our society or schools” and that “every student family and member of the community deserves to feel safe, valued and able to worship and meet without fear.” The district is making counselors available to all students and families affected by this tragedy.

Officials did not comment on a specific motive, but San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said: “Hate has no home in San Diego. Islamophobia has no home in San Diego. An attack on any of our communities — on any San Diegan because of who they are, what they believe, or how they pray — is an attack on all of us.”