Grief and mourning fill San Diego after deadly mosque shooting leaves 3 dead

People gathered and embraced near the scene of the deadly shooting outside the Islamic Center of San Diego as mourners struggled to process the tragedy that shattered the local community. Emotions remained heavy at the site, where friends, family members, and community leaders comforted one another in the aftermath of the attack that left three dead and several others shaken.

The Islamic Center of San Diego's director and imam, Taha Hassane, denounced the shooting, pleading with the public to spread tolerance and love instead of hate. "My community is mourning. The religious intolerance and the hate that unfortunately exists in our nation is unprecedented," he said in a press conference. He suggested Americans can reverse ill will by encouraging tolerance. It needs to be done, he said, "for the sake of this nation, for the sake of the future generations."

Authorities claimed that the suspects were teenagers, believed to be 17 and 19. One of the suspects is identified as a student at Madison High School, about 1 mile from the Islamic Center. The two were found dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds inside a white Mercedes, which was located in the middle of the road, near the center.

Authorities revealed that the shooting took place just a few hours after the mother of one of the suspects contacted police to report that her son had been missing, along with multiple weapons and her vehicle. The mom also reported discovering a note while revealing that her son was with a companion and that they were dressed in camo.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl reiterated that the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime. "At this point, there was definitely hate rhetoric that was involved. I’ll leave it at that for now," he said in response to a question at a news conference. "There was generalized hate rhetoric and speech," but no specific threat was made to "any facility or any place," he said. This came after anti-Islamic writings were found in the car where police found the dead suspects.