The two teenagers who opened fire on a San Diego Mosque on Monday have been identified as relatives of one of them say they are “very sorry for what happened.”
Three people were killed when the two gunmen opened fire on the Islamic Center of San Diego, California, shortly before midday prayer. The shooters appeared to have died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds and were found in a car nearby.
The teenagers have been identified as Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, according to senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation who spoke to NBC News. Not much is known yet about Vazquez but Clark was attending school virtually and had been set to graduate this month.
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The 17-year-old had previously gone to Kate Sessions Elementary School and San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, James Canning, a spokesperson for San Diego Unified School District, said. He started an online schooling program called iHigh Virtual Academy in 2021, Canning added.
Clark lived near Madison High School and was allowed to participate in activities and sports there. He was a member of the school’s wrestling team from 2024 to 2025 but had not participated in any activities at the school this year.
Police are treating the shooting as a hate crime (Image: AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
“He seemed like he was a good kid,” a former wrestling teammate told CNN. “He didn’t seem like he would do something like that.”
“The kid was trying to fit in,” the former teammate added. “He was always just trying his best – he was trying to fit in and find friends.”
Clark’s grandparents, David and Deborah Clark, also spoke to the outlet from outside their home, expressing shock over the incident. They said that they are “trying to process this,” and added that they are “very sorry for what happened.”
The grandparents declined to comment further and walked back inside their home. Police are treating the shooting as a hate crime.
One of the teens had taken a firearm from their parents’ home and left a suicide note that included writings about racial pride, multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the shooting told CNN.
Hate speech was also scrawled on one of the weapons used in the shooting, the officials said. They did not say what was written.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said investigators had discovered evidence that the suspects had participated in “generalized hate rhetoric.” Officers had already been searching for one of the teens before the shooting unfolded.
Police found the bodies of the shooters in a car nearby (Image: AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
His mother had contacted the police because she was concerned that her son, who had disappeared, could be suicidal, Wahl explained. Weapons were missing from their home and the mother’s car had vanished, he noted.
The search became even more frantic when police discovered that he was wearing camouflage and accompanied by an acquaintance, which they noted was odd for someone contemplating suicide, he said.
Authorities used every available technology to locate the teens, including automated license plate readers. Police sent officers to a mall near where the vehicle had been tracked, and notified a school where at least one suspect had previously attended, Wahl said.
As officers questioned the teen’s mother about where he might have gone, police began receiving reports of gunfire at the mosque. Officers arrived within four minutes of receiving the call, Wahl said.
As they arrived at the scene, gunshots rang out several blocks away where a landscaper was targeted but escaped unharmed. Clark and Vasquez were discovered dead inside a vehicle stopped in the middle of a nearby road, he added.