SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Parents stood in horror outside the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday after learning a mass shooting had taken place at San Diego’s largest mosque.
“It’s very disturbing, especially when there are kids in both the mosque and both in school, and I understand some of the kids were exposed to what happened there, so very, very disturbing,” said Nati Gabizon during a live interview with ABC 10News Investigative Reporter Austin Grabish.
Gabizon has four daughters who attend the Kavod Charter School next door to the Islamic Center. He said he received an email from the school around noon informing parents that his daughters had been sheltered in place while the campus was locked down.
When he spoke with ABC 10News, there were at least 50 police vehicles and a SWAT team at the scene. Many officers had their guns drawn and a police helicopter was circling above.
'Every community's worst nightmare'
“I just hope that everybody will be safe and that we will not have such things here again here," Gabizon said.
Arad Rastgaran lives down the street from the mosque and used to play basketball there as a child. He said he still has friends who go there and learned about the shooting after his family went into lockdown.
“My mom actually texted me, told me that and then I got scared because I love my parents,” he said during a live interview.
Rastgaran, 16, said he never felt unsafe at the Islamic center.
“They just welcome you in, even if you’re not Muslim. I’m not Muslim, but I’m Persian but they just welcome you in it’s so heartwarming.”
Clairemont resident Aaron Nigro's son goes to school near the mosque and said he found out about the shooting when he was at a nearby shopping center. The doors had been locked, which he thought was odd. He checked the Citizen app and learned there was an active shooter.
“It’s nerve-racking. I mean, out of all places, like a mosque, I mean, you’re dealing with two schools right here, another school right down the block where my son goes.”
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said three people died in the shooting, which is being investigated as a hate crime, including a security guard who worked at the mosque.
"There was hate rhetoric involved," he said.
Teenage killers found dead
Wahl said the two suspected shooters, ages 17 and 18, were found dead inside a car about two blocks away from the Islamic Center.
According to Wahl, one shooter had been reported missing by his mother around 9:30 a.m. Monday, who told police she was concerned because her son was suicidal, had taken her car and weapons, and was dressed in camouflage.
Police used license plate readers to track the vehicle and sent officers to the Fashion Valley mall as a possible threat location, Wahl said.
By 11:43 a.m., police received reports of an active shooter at the Islamic Center. When police arrived, they found three people dead.
“This is every community’s worst nightmare," he told reporters.
Wahl said between 50 and 100 officers entered the mosque, breached doors and searched the building during what he described as an “extremely chaotic” operation.
He also said gunfire was later reported a few blocks away, where a landscaper was shot.
The victim was not injured and may have been protected by the helmet he was wearing, Wahl said.
Wahl said one of the shooter's mothers found a note left behind from her son but the chief wouldn't disclose what it said.
