Three adult victims, two suspects dead after shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego

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National Three adult victims, two suspects dead after shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego May 18, 20267:18 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered From By Kori Suzuki Three adult victims, two suspects dead after shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego Listen &middot; 3:27 3:27 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5826092/nx-s1-9775473" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Three victims are dead, as well as two suspected shooters after a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego. Sponsor Message SCOTT DETROW, HOST: San Diego police say that five people are dead after a shooting today outside the Islamic Center of San Diego. There's still a lot we don't know about what happened, but KPBS' Kori Suzuki has been following it all and is here to talk through the latest. Kori, thanks for being here. KORI SUZUKI, BYLINE: Hi, Scott. Thanks for having me. DETROW: Let's start here. What do we know about what happened at this shooting? SUZUKI: Well, here's what we know. San Diego police say that around 9:42 this morning, they got a call from the mother of a runaway minor who - she said her son might have been suicidal. She reported that her vehicle and weapons were missing, that her son was with a companion and that they were dressed in what police have described as camo. Police Chief Scott Wahl said police started dispatching officers to locations that they thought might be threatened. And while they were trying to zero in on where the teenagers were, they got reports of a shooting at 11:43 a.m. at the Islamic Center of San Diego. That's a big mosque north of downtown. There's a school right next to it. Police say they arrived at the Islamic Center and immediately saw three people dead out front. At roughly the same time, they received reports of gunfire a couple blocks away - someone shooting at a landscaper. Police responded to that area and found two teenagers, who they think were the shooters, dead in a car. They said earlier this afternoon that they believe they died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. We haven't heard very much information about those who were killed, but police did say that one of them was a security guard at the mosque. DETROW: OK. And what do we know at this moment about who the shooters were? SUZUKI: We don't have a lot of information so far. Police say they believe that they're both teenagers. And officials haven't come out with a motive, but Police Chief Scott Wahl did say that they are investigating this as a hate crime. He declined to provide exact details, but he said there was, quote, "generalized hate rhetoric" and speech involved. The FBI says they're investigating the shooting, too. DETROW: These are grim details. The images we saw were really frightening and upsetting, and I'm wondering what the reaction is in the community. SUZUKI: Well, Taha Hassane is the imam and director of the Islamic Center of San Diego, and he spoke at a press conference this afternoon. He says he's concerned by what he sees as a culture of intolerance and hate, and he talked about how alarming it was to see an attack on a religious site. Here's a clip of what he said. (SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE) TAHA HASSANE: It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship. Our Islamic Center is a place of worship. People come to the Islamic Center to pray, to celebrate, to learn. SUZUKI: In a statement, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria also called the shooting a violent act of hate. He said his prayers are with the local Muslim community and that police will have an increased presence at houses of worship throughout the city. DETROW: What's next in the investigation of what happened? SUZUKI: Law enforcement says that they're in the process of interviewing family and friends of the suspects and that they'll be issuing search warrants tonight and in the days ahead to try and figure out more about what happened. DETROW: That is Kori Suzuki of member station KPBS. Thank you so much for talking to us about this. SUZUKI: Thanks, Scott. (SOUNDBITE OF JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET AND DARIO MARIANELLI'S "DAWN") Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.