North Carolina Teen Faces Charges in San Diego Mosque Shooting
A 17-year-old girl from North Carolina, Sarah Lindsey Santiago, has been charged with murder by aiding and abetting in connection to a shooting at a San Diego mosque. The incident resulted in the deaths of three individuals. Santiago was arrested and indicted on three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy.
Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill announced the charges during a news conference in Winston-Salem. According to O’Neill, Santiago recorded a livestream of the attack and disseminated the attackers’ writings. She also purchased and sent a patch with a white-supremacist symbol to the attackers, Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez.
“The individual here, locally, was the person who was recording the livestream,” O’Neill said. “She disseminated that information and she published their manifesto.”
The attack occurred at the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18. Clark and Vazquez stormed the center but were met with resistance from a security guard, Amin Abdullah, who initiated a lockdown. Despite Abdullah’s efforts, he was killed along with Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad.
Clark and Vazquez later took their own lives, leaving behind writings filled with vitriol against various groups and ideologies. Their writings referenced the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand as an inspiration and outlined plans for further attacks on a Jewish temple and a predominantly Black high school.
The attackers espoused far-right ideologies and expressed hatred towards multiple communities including Jews, Muslims, the LGBTQ+ community, and racial minorities. They also targeted both political spectrums.
The documents revealed their motive to accelerate societal collapse. Vazquez’s family noted his struggles with mental health and autism, suggesting these may have contributed to his radicalization along with exposure to online hate.
Following the shooting, the community gathered at Lindbergh Park for a vigil, commemorating the lives lost during the tragedy.