Overview
- Two teenagers, Caleb Vazquez and Cain Clark, shot three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego and died in an apparent murder‑suicide in the attack on May 18, 2026.
- Court filings obtained by local reporters say Vazquez repeatedly dressed at school as infamous mass killers, spoke of idolizing Hitler, and told responders he had been researching extremist material on the dark web.
- School staff flagged escalating behavior after a 2024 breakup, leading friends to alert an assistant principal and police to conduct a welfare check in January 2025 that resulted in a 72‑hour psychiatric hold and a temporary gun‑violence restraining order.
- Police records show Vazquez’s father told officers he and his wife moved more than two dozen guns, ammunition, and knives into storage after the order was served, and investigators are still trying to reconcile those claims with firearm records.
- Local and federal investigators continue active probes and the coverage has focused community concern on how schools, emergency psychiatric responses, courts, family actions, and online radicalization interacted before the attack.