Two teenagers fatally shot three men outside a mosque in San Diego, California, in what authorities are investigating as a suspected hate crime, before later taking their own lives, police said.
The attack happened on Monday morning while officers were responding to a separate call about a possibly suicidal teenager who had reportedly run away from home.
Police were alerted to gunfire at the Islamic Center of San Diego and arrived to find three victims shot outside the front of the building.
A short time later, officers received another report of shots being fired nearby from a vehicle at a landscaper. Police later found the two suspects, aged 17 and 18, dead from self-inflicted wounds inside a vehicle a few blocks from the mosque.
Officials said one of the victims was a security guard at the centre who “played a pivotal role” in preventing the attack from becoming “much worse”.
“It’s fair to say his actions were heroic,” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl told a news conference. “Undoubtedly he saved lives today.”
Authorities have not yet released the names of the three victims. However, a person who knew the security guard told the BBC’s US partner CBS that he was a father of eight.
The FBI said the incident is being investigated as a hate crime after writings were discovered by the mother of one of the suspects.
Police were first called to the mosque at 11:43am local time and “observed what appeared to be three deceased victims out front”, Mr Wahl said.
“There were no officers involved in firing their weapons,” Wahl said, and there was no sign of any gunman.
About two hours before the shooting, the mother of one of the suspects had contacted police to report that her son had left home with several of her guns and her car.
She told officers that he had gone with another person and that both were dressed in camouflage.
Mr Wahl said the teenager’s behaviour was “not consistent” with someone believed to be suicidal.
A note left behind by the suspect also contained “generalised hate rhetoric and hate speech”, he said.
However, Mr Wahl added that the note did not include any specific threat against the mosque, another location, or any individual.
Investigators later went to a local high school, where one of the teenagers was enrolled, as well as a shopping mall where the vehicle had been tracked.
Mr Wahl said the motive remained unknown, but authorities were treating the shooting as a presumed hate crime because the attack took place at the mosque, the largest in San Diego County.
When the shooting occurred, officers were still speaking with the suspect’s mother and were only a few blocks away from the mosque.
After finding the three victims outside the building, officers entered the mosque and began following active shooter procedures.
As they cleared rooms inside the facility, police received further reports of another shooting nearby.
Authorities said the suspects had allegedly fired from their car at a landscaper, who was not injured.
Mr Wahl said a bullet may have deflected off the landscaper’s hard hat, although that detail had not yet been confirmed.
When officers arrived at the second scene, a few blocks from the mosque, they found both suspects dead inside the vehicle.
Children were present at the Islamic Center campus when the attack unfolded. The site is also home to the Al Rashid School, which offers religious and language classes.
Aerial footage from the scene showed children holding hands as they were escorted through the centre’s car park while police responded.
Nearby schools were also placed on lockdown as a precaution.
The FBI has appealed to the public for any information that could assist the investigation.
A witness told CBS that he heard as many as 30 gunshots from what sounded like “a semi-automatic weapon”.
He said he first heard about a dozen shots, followed by a pause, and then another possible dozen shots.
The witness, a retired man who was eating lunch at home at the time, said he called 911 and that police arrived within “five to 10 minutes”.
He said the mosque is especially busy during holidays.
“It’s a good thing it didn’t happen on a Friday, because the streets would be full of people,” he added.
Imam Taha Hassane, director of the Islamic Center of San Diego, condemned the attack during a news conference.
“It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship.”
The facility, “is a house of worship, not a battlefield”, he added.
The shooting comes as the Muslim community prepares for one of its holiest periods and one of its biggest celebrations.
Eid al-Adha, also known as the “Festival of Sacrifice”, is one of the two major Muslim holidays and commemorates the obedience of Prophet Ibrahim.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was “horrified by today’s violent attack” at the centre, “where families and children gather, and neighbors worship in peace and fellowship”.
The state “will not tolerate acts of terror or intimidation against communities of faith”, Newsom added.
Asked about the shooting on Monday, US President Donald Trump described it as a “terrible situation”.
“I’ve been given some early updates but we’re going to be going back and looking at it very strongly,” he said during an unrelated White House event.
