SAN DIEGO: At least five people were killed in a shooting at the Islamic Centre of San Diego, the region’s largest mosque, after dozens of law enforcement officers rushed to the complex following reports of an active shooter. Police later said the threat had been “neutralised.”
Authorities are treating the incident at the Islamic Centre of San Diego as a possible hate crime, according to the San Diego Police Chief, who said the attack left three victims dead along with two suspects who were also killed. Police also confirmed that one of those killed at the centre was a security guard.
The San Diego-area branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said on its X account that at least one person was killed by a shooter at the mosque. The organisation also stated that children were inside a school located within the complex during the incident.
The The New York Times, citing an email from the mosque’s chairman Ahmed Shabaik, reported that at least one victim, a security guard, had been killed.
At around the same time, the San Diego Police Department posted on X that the “threat at the Islamic centre has been neutralised.”
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said around noon PDT (1900 GMT) that he had been informed of an “active shooter situation” at the Islamic centre in the Clairemont neighbourhood of San Diego, California’s second-most populous city. The police department also separately stated that officers were responding to a reported active shooter incident.
Television footage from local stations showed dozens of patrol cars on a highway bridge near the Islamic Centre, with police surrounding the premises and aiming rifles at the building.
Police officers in tactical gear, armed with rifles, were also seen positioned on the roof of the mosque near its dome, while ground units moved through the complex during the operation.
The Islamic Centre in Clairemont is the largest mosque in San Diego County and also houses the Bright Horizon Academy, a school that provides Islamic education, according to its official website.
“We strongly condemn this horrifying act of violence at the Islamic Centre of San Diego,” said CAIR-San Diego Executive Director Tazheen Nizam in a statement.
“No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school. We are working to learn more about this incident, and we encourage everyone to keep this community in your prayers,” she added.
California Governor Gavin Newsom was briefed on the “evolving situation,” according to his Office of Emergency Services.