Teen attackers in mosque shooting were wallowing in nihilistic hate

The two teenagers who carried out a deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday blamed Jews for the ills of the world and spewed a nihilistic mix of anti-Muslim, misogynistic, anti-Hispanic, anti-gay and anti-trans hate rhetoric, according to what the FBI is calling a “manifesto” obtained by CBS News.

“These subjects did not discriminate in who they hated,” said Mark Remily, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office, at a press conference Tuesday.  

The document, reviewed by CBS News, opens with an antisemitic diatribe, repeating the phrase, “IT’S THE JEWS.” It also calls for a violent race war and references “accelerationism,” one of the most violent forms of white supremacist ideology that advocates the destruction of society.

The two livestreamed their attack, reminiscent of the notorious 2019 shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 people. 

The video shows them wearing gear with Nazi symbols resembling the “SS” insignias worn by Hitler’s paramilitary ranks, and etched the words “Race War” onto a handgun, one of the weapons used in the attack.

Oren Segal, senior vice president of Counter-Extremism and Intelligence at the Anti-Defamation League, said the attackers wrote about wanting to carry out a legacy of the Christchurch shooter. “They called themselves, almost identified themselves, as the ‘sons’ of the shooter,” Segal said.

The document devotes sections to anti-Black, anti-Muslim, anti-Hispanic, anti-trans and misogynistic rants. It is separated into two sections, one for each teen. Both of them identify with the misogynistic incel movement, which has been linked to prior mass shootings. “Incel” is short for the phrase “involuntary celibate.”   

At one point there is a question-and-answer section, which includes: “Were/are you right wing: Depends on the definition. Were/are you left wing: Depends on the definition.”

The teens are part of a growing trend of attacks motivated by what the FBI calls “nihilistic violent extremism,” which is a broad ideology that combines multiple forms of hate. 

The so-called “manifesto” is 75 pages long and appears to be a compilation of writings that have been circulating in the darker corners of the internet for years, possibly pulled together with the help of AI. CBS News has not independently verified who created the document.

Authorities said they believe the two teens met online and discovered they were both residents of the San Diego area before meeting in person.

A suicide note left by one of the gunmen, 17-year-old Cain Clark, indicated he was willing to die for his abhorrent cause, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

Clark had been a member of the wrestling team at a local high school. The other assailant, Caleb Vazquez, was 18.

Investigators are probing evidence that indicates the teens were influenced by a litany of mass shooters, including the Christchurch attacker.

The teens recorded their  attack Monday and the gruesome 10 minute video was widely shared to a website where people post videos depicting extreme violence. CBS News has previously reported on past mass shooters who have spent time on the platform.

The video investigators found was posted to a website which has been on the FBI’s radar amid a disturbing trend of young people engaging with what’s called the “True Crime Community,” or TCC, an online movement that glorifies mass shooters and encourages violence and self-harm.

After carrying out the attack that killed three people — including a security guard who was praised for saving countless others — the video shows Clark, wearing camouflage, fatally shooting Vazquez before taking his own life. 

Authorities said the teens had stockpiled 30 guns and a crossbow, weapons taken from Clark’s parents.

The first warning came in around 9:40 a.m. when Clark’s mother called 911. She said she worried that her son was suicidal after she discovered that multiple weapons and her vehicle had been taken. Her son, she said, was wearing camouflage.  

The information triggered a threat alert to local law enforcement, but there was no known specific target, according to San Diego police.

Two hours later, the two teens opened fire at the mosque. They killed a security guard out front, then entered the facility, which houses a school where more than 100 children were in attendance. The attackers started to go door to door, but the guard, Amin Abdullah, had already triggered a lockdown alert and the students were in another area of the building.

Then, investigators say,  the teens spotted two men in the parking lot through one of the windows. They exited the mosque to target and kill them, then jumped in their vehicle and fled, shooting out the window of the car.

A few blocks away, Clark shot Vazquez and then himself.