Police seized 30 guns from homes of San Diego mosque shooters

A mother’s urgent call about a suicidal son, missing guns and a missing vehicle came about two hours before two teenagers opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego, turning the case into a stark test of whether warning signs can be acted on before hate turns lethal.

The shooting was reported shortly before noon on May 18, 2026, at the mosque on Eckstrom Avenue in Clairemont Mesa East, a complex that also houses a school. Three adult men were killed, including a security guard whom San Diego police said played a heroic role and likely prevented the violence from becoming far worse. Both suspects, identified by authorities as 17 and 18, later were found dead in a nearby vehicle from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Investigators have said the teenagers met online and shared a broad hatred of different religions and races. Police said writings expressing hate were recovered, and the case is being investigated as a possible hate crime. In the vehicle and in the homes tied to the suspects, investigators found anti-Islamic and other hateful material that has deepened alarm across San Diego County’s Muslim community and beyond.

Authorities recovered 30 firearms and a crossbow from two residences linked to the teenagers. Scott Wahl, the San Diego police chief, said the weapons were not registered to the teenagers and belonged to one of the parents. Investigators are still working to determine how the teens obtained them and whether any intervention might have stopped the attack before it began.

The warning signs were there in plain view. One suspect’s mother called police about two hours before the shooting to report that her son was suicidal, had run away, and that weapons and her vehicle were missing from the family home. Police then had to piece together how that crisis unfolded into an attack on a house of worship that serves worshipers and children in the same building.

The episode has become more than a local tragedy. It is a national measure of whether red-flag style interventions, firearm restrictions and threat-reporting systems can move fast enough to protect targeted faith communities when hatred is already circulating online and weapons are already in the wrong hands. The FBI has set up a tip line as the investigation continues, searching for answers that may determine whether the next warning call leads to action before the shooting starts.