San Diego mosque attackers shared video of shooting, writings citing racist ideology

By Audrey Ash, Thomas Bordeaux, Brynn Gingras, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Curt Devine, Jeff Winter, Casey Tolan, CNN

(CNN) — The attackers who killed three people Monday at a San Diego mosque shared a live video of the shooting as well as a lengthy written document citing racist, Islamophobic and antisemitic ideology.

The graphic video, which CNN reviewed, appears to capture the attackers firing weapons from inside the mosque while displaying Nazi and White supremacist imagery on their weapons and clothing. Another portion of the video appears to show one gunman shooting the other inside a car and then shooting himself.

The attackers were identified by authorities as 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Vazquez.

The video and a 75-page hate-filled screed apparently written by the gunmen were obtained by researchers at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which studies extremism, and provided to CNN. A law enforcement source with knowledge of the case, who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, confirmed to CNN that the video is believed to be legitimate and that investigators are reviewing the writings.

At a news conference, Mark Remily, the special agent in charge of the FBI San Diego office, said investigators had recovered a written “manifesto” and were analyzing it. It’s not clear whether the document is the same as the one reviewed by CNN.

The ISD researchers told CNN they believed the document is legitimate because the content lines up with what is shown in the livestream video and it references usernames matching social media accounts that posted similar ideology before the shooting.

One clip reviewed by CNN from the livestream video shows the gunmen in the parking lot of the Islamic Center of San Diego, the region’s largest mosque. They are seen entering the building’s front doors holding rifles and at least one pistol.

At least one of the men then appears to fire his weapon through the building’s doors to the exterior of the Islamic center. They walk around inside the building, while one seems to adjust his rifle. CNN matched details in the video to the Islamic center, including the entrance and interior.

The video shows them walking outside, where one fires a pistol. The video also shows an apparent victim lying on the ground in a pool of blood. The clip ends as the two gunmen enter a vehicle.

A second clip starts later and appears to show the men driving in a car.

The passenger records the video as a gun is fired through the car window. The passenger says something directly to the camera, although the video lacks any audio.

The driver pulls the car over, and then apparently fires at the passenger. The driver then shoots himself in the head.

CNN geolocated the final moment of the video to a neighborhood just south of the mosque where police recovered the vehicle and where the gunmen were found dead.

The guns seen in the video are black with hand-written white lettering and symbols drawn on them. The writing includes numerical codes and abbreviations that reference Nazism, as well as messages about past mass shootings.

The ideologies referenced by those symbols are expressed more explicitly in the document apparently signed by the two gunmen.

The document includes two separate statements attributed to each gunman expressing support for White supremacist ideology, including specifically referencing the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory that White populations are deliberately being replaced. They also describe admiration for previous mass shooters, and repeatedly endorse nihilistic and antisemitic ideas.

In the statement attributed to Clark, the author writes extensively about his hatred for non-White and non-Christian cultures. The message attributed to Vazquez lauds Adolf Hitler as a hero.

That statement includes descriptions of using satellite imagery and Google Street View to study the layout of locations targeted by the gunmen, adding that they also scouted targets in person.

The authors also reference various previous mass shooters by name, including expressing admiration for the man who killed 51 people at a mosque and Islamic center in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019, and also livestreamed his attack.

The writing attributed to Vazquez also cites the influence of “incel” culture online and refers to the author’s previous mental health issues. In the statement attributed to Clark, the author writes that he did not intend to survive the attack and predicts that he would not feel any remorse.

Some iconography displayed by the gunmen seems to match that used by other mass shooters in recent years whom experts have described as “nihilistic violent extremists” – including writing the name of another mass killer and hateful statements on their weapons.

Federal authorities have been warning of heightened risk of attacks by individuals within or inspired by nihilistic violent extremist groups, some of which promote White supremacy but are defined less by coherent ideology and more by desires to destroy society. A Department of Homeland Security memo from October stated that such individuals may increasingly seek to livestream acts of violence to gain attention online.

Cody Zoschak, a senior analyst at ISD, said that the writings seemed to differentiate the teen gunmen from other nihilistic extremists because of their explicit endorsement of neo-Nazi rhetoric.

“There’s pretty strong indications that these folks were neo-Nazis, specifically militant accelerationists,” Zoschak said. “They display an ideological knowledge that shows some engagement in these circles for an extended period of time.”

CNN’s Scott Glover contributed to this report.

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