Behavior of teen in mosque shooting led police to seize family guns a year before attack
Summary
A teenager involved in a shooting at a San Diego mosque was previously flagged by police for worrying behavior, including idolizing Nazis. Police took away his family’s guns about a year before the attack under a California law aimed at removing firearms from people seen as dangerous.Key Facts
- Caleb Vazquez, 18, showed alarming behavior and idolized Nazis, leading to police welfare checks last year.
- Police took 26 guns from Vazquez’s family home in January 2025 under a law that allows gun removal from dangerous people.
- Vazquez’s parents had already moved the guns to a secure storage a few days before police arrived.
- Vazquez and another teen, Cain Clark, 17, met online and became radicalized; Clark’s home also had missing guns before the shooting.
- The shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego killed three people; the two teens then died by suicide.
- Court records mention Vazquez had mental health struggles, including an involuntary psychiatric hospital stay.
- Vazquez’s family said he was on the autism spectrum and struggled with parts of his identity.
- The family believes online hate and extremist content influenced Vazquez’s radical beliefs despite their efforts to help him.
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