Two hours before shots rang out at a San Diego mosque, killing three people, police got a call from one of the suspected teenage shooter's mother that her son was suicidal and her guns were missing, the city's police chief says.
Chief Scott Wahl said at a news conference that the teen's mom called police at 9:42 a.m. PT. to report a runaway. But pretty quickly, Wahl said that both the mother and police realized something more dangerous could be brewing.
"The information that she was gathering and conveying to us began to elevate the threat level that we were perceiving," he said. "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 her son was with a companion and that they were dressed in camo, and that is not consistent with what we would typically see from somebody that is suicidal."
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He added: "One person that’s suicidal is not going to take three weapons from a location."
Wahl said the mother's call triggered a "larger threat assessment picture" and the agency's threat-management unit began working to track down the teens and the car, including using license-plate readers. They deployed officers to a local mall after several hits on the vehicle, and to the teen's high school, though they had no specific threats.
As police tried to zero in on the teens, they got a call at 11:43 a.m. PT. There was an active shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego. Police believe the teens opened fire at the mosque and killed three, including a security guard now being hailed as a hero, before they fled and soon after fatally shot themselves, Wahl said.
"We're all focused on figuring out how this happened and what could we have done to prevent it," Wahl said.
Here's what we know so far about the suspects in the mosque attack.
Police: Teens suspects found dead in car
The active shooter call at the mosque came in at about 11:43 a.m. PT, Wahl said. As police responded, they got another call about a landscaper being shot at while he was working a couple blocks away from the mosque. The landscaper may have been hit in the helmet with a bullet though that isn't confirmed, Wahl said.
Moments after the landscaper was attacked, officers got a call about a car in the middle of the street nearby. Inside, police found the suspect shooters dead, Wahl said. They were 17 and 18 years old, Wahl said.
He added that the suspect's mother who called police earlier found a note that he had left but declined to share what it said.
Attack being investigated as hate crime
Authorities vowed to get to the bottom of the motive behind the attack.
"We will leave no stone unturned," said Mark Remily, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's San Diego field office.
Authorities said the attack was being investigated as a hate crime. Wahl said there was no specific threat to the mosque but that "there was definitely hate rhetoric that was involved." He declined to be more specific, saying only that "general hate kind of speech ... covered a wide gamut."
Authorities didn't identify those killed in the shooting or the suspects. In the coming hours, days and weeks, they will be working to learn everything they can about the shooters and why they attacked the mosque.
