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The Guardian World1 min read
San Diego shooting shows disturbing trend of shooters copying acts of violence
TL;DR
Three men were killed in a San Diego mosque by shooters aged 17 and 18, who later died by suicide. The attack reflects a troubling trend of hate-motivated violence inspired by other shooters.
Key points
- Three men were killed in a San Diego mosque shooting.
- The shooters were aged 17 and 18 and later died by suicide.
- They were influenced by online extremist networks.
- A 75-page document expressed their extremist views.
- The attack reflects a trend of shooters copying each other's violence.
Mentioned in this story
San DiegoAmin AbdullahMansour KazihaNadir Awad
The killing of three men at a San Diego mosque on Monday is the latest example of a disturbing trend in recent decades: hate-motivated shooters learning from – and copying – each other in acts of violence meant to push the nation toward a race war and, ultimately, societal collapse.
The two San Diego shooters, who were 17 and 18, killed 51-year-old Amin Abdullah, a security guard at the Islamic Center of San Diego, 78-year-old Mansour Kaziha, a mosque elder and founding member of the center, and Nadir Awad, 57, who lived across the street and whose wife worked as a teacher at the center’s school.
The shooters later died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
The pair appears to have been deeplyentrenched in online extremist networks and looked up to shooters who have killed dozens of people in US places of worship, schools and grocery stores. In a 75-page document the shooters wrote before Monday’s attack, they expressed hatred for Muslim and Jewish people, for Black people, the LGBTQ+ community, women, and for both political parties in the US.
In addition to the document spelling out their extremist views, they also livestreamed their violence and wrote on their firearms in white marker – all common tactics among shooters who have been radicalized online, said Matthew Kriner, executive director of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism, which has been investigating the shooters’ digital footprint to understand a possible motive for the attack.
“Preliminarily, we’re seeing two individuals who jointly radicalized into this digital space and then jointly radicalized into this moment of violence,” Kriner said.
In a Tuesday briefing, JD Vance, the vice-president, decried the shooting as “reprehensible”.
“The principle of religious violence is particularly disgusting, especially in the United States of America,” he said. “And as a devout Christian, I would say it’s one of the most anti-Christian things and anti-American things that you could do.”
After the killing of Charlie Kirk in Utah in September, and assassination attempts on Trump’s life, Donald Trump, his administration and their allies have said rhetoric from Democrats and the left is catalyzing political and extremist violence.
Earlier this month, the White House released its counter-terrorism strategy, which said the biggest threats of domestic terror and violence come from “Narcoterrorists and Transnational Gangs, Legacy Islamist Terrorists and Violent Left-Wing Extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists”.
Experts say there is a growing body of research showing that recent high-profile shootings in the US are mostly committed by people heavily influenced by online spaces, where traditional political divides are largely irrelevant.
Q&A
What happened in the San Diego mosque shooting?
Two shooters killed three men at a San Diego mosque before taking their own lives.
Who were the victims of the San Diego mosque shooting?
The victims included Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha, and Nadir Awad.
What motivated the shooters in the San Diego attack?
The shooters were motivated by hate and were influenced by online extremist networks.
How did the shooters express their extremist views?
They wrote a 75-page document detailing their hatred and livestreamed their violent act.
