May 18 (UPI) — Three people were killed in a shooting late Monday morning at the Islamic Center of San Diego, authorities said.
Two teenage suspects in the shootings were found in a car near the scene, dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds, law enforcement officers said at a press conference in late afternoon. Authorities said that they’re considering the mosque shootings a hate crime.
The first reports of the shooting came in about 11:30 a.m. local time, San Diego’s KNSD-TV reported.
Up to 100 police officers arrived at the scene and found three people dead outside the mosque, CNN reported. Police searched the building and eventually cleared the scene.
As officers were responding, they were also called to another reported shooting a few blocks away, police said. A man there was shot at but not hit.
Police later found the bodies of the suspects, ages 17 and 19, in a car in another location.
One of the people in the shooting was a security guard at the mosque, and his actions likely kept the death toll from being much worse, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said.
