Mass shooting hits San Diego's Islamic Center, 3 dead
A mass shooting struck the mosque complex in San Diego County, California, United States, on Monday (18/05/2026). The bloodshed left three people dead at the scene before two teenage suspects who were the gunmen were found dead by suicide in a car not far from the scene.
Citing Le Monde, local police said emergency responders found victims lying outside the Islamic Center of San Diego, which is very large. Security officers then conducted a sweep and found the two shooters, aged 19 and 17 respectively, already dead inside the car.
Video footage from a television helicopter showed sniper teams and fully equipped armed forces gathered outside the building, where one unknown person lay in the middle of a pool of blood. Dozens of police patrol cars ringed the Islamic Center, described on its official site as the largest mosque in southern San Diego County.
After briefly imposing a region lockdown and asking residents to remain indoors, San Diego police announced that the threat at the Islamic Center had been neutralised.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl briefed journalists on the chronology of officers’ arrival. Wahl said the emergency call came quickly to the local police command centre.
‘We received a call about an active shooter at the Islamic Center. Within four minutes, officers arrived at the scene and immediately saw three dead victims at the front,’ Wahl told reporters, as cited by Le Monde.
Police immediately moved to enter the building to anticipate further attacks on worshippers inside.
‘We immediately began deploying active shooter response inside the mosque and the adjacent school,’ Wahl added.
Wahl also explained that police had received reports of another gunshot sound nearby, where a worker nearby was shot but fortunately not hit the target.
Right outside the Islamic Center, officers found a vehicle stopped in the middle of the road with the two gunmen dead inside. Wahl emphasised that the suspects apparently died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. ‘No officers fired their weapons,’ he said of the gunmen’s fate.
Police confirmed that a security guard at the Islamic Center was one of the three people killed in the incident, while the identities of the other two victims remained unclear. The mosque’s Imam, Taha Hassane, said all staff, teachers, and children inside the mosque were safe and sound.
‘We have never experienced a tragedy like this before. And at this moment, what I can say is that we send our prayers and stand in solidarity with all the families in our community here,’ Hassane said.
Hassane also added that violence at a place of worship is a transgression of humanity.
‘It is extremely revolting and unacceptable to target a place of worship,’ Hassane said.
On the other hand, responses also came from the highest levels of the U.S. government, where President Donald Trump described the mass shooting as a very frightening situation.
‘I have been given some early briefings, but we will come back and look at this matter very strongly,’ Trump said to journalists.
Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, was also reported to have been briefed on the attack. The Governor’s Office released a statement on his social media.
‘We thank the emergency responders at the scene for their work protecting the community and urge everyone to follow the guidance of local authorities,’ the statement said.