One of many youngsters who killed three folks at a San Diego mosque this week was flagged to regulation enforcement final 12 months for exhibiting alarming conduct and idolizing Nazis, prompting police to confiscate his father’s weapons, in accordance with courtroom information.
The officers who performed a welfare examine on the dwelling of Caleb Vazquez wrote that he was “concerned in suspicious conduct idolizing nazis and mass shooters,” and obtained a courtroom order on Jan. 29, 2025, to take away 26 weapons below a 2014 California regulation permitting the confiscation of firearms from folks thought-about harmful.
Vazquez’s father initially denied police entry into his dwelling once they requested to see how he was storing his weapons.
Vazquez’s mother and father had voluntarily eliminated the weapons from the home and positioned them in a safe storage facility days earlier, in accordance with an affidavit signed by Marco Vazquez, the daddy.
Authorities have stated Vazquez, 18, met Cain Clark, 17, on-line, the place they each have been radicalized. Police haven’t shared extra particulars about how they knew one another, or specified whose weapons have been used within the capturing.
Cain Clark’s mom informed regulation enforcement that weapons have been lacking from her dwelling on Monday, kicking off an hourslong seek for the teenagers earlier than they dedicated the capturing on the Islamic Middle of San Diego after which killed themselves, police stated.
Court docket filings point out psychological well being struggles
Court docket filings present Vazquez determined to “safe all sharp knives within the dwelling” and faraway from the home the firearms that that they had beforehand stored in a safe gun protected into an out of doors storage facility. The affidavit additionally mentions unspecified critical allegations in opposition to their son, who was additionally beforehand dedicated to an involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. The courtroom filings, first reported by The New York Occasions, didn’t say what he was admitted for.
The Vazquez household stated in an announcement launched Thursday that Caleb Vazquez was on the autism spectrum and had grown to resent components of his id — however didn’t specify what features have been difficult to him.
“Coming from a various household that not solely contains immigrants however Muslims as effectively, we at all times taught the significance of acceptance, compassion, and love for each other. We’re happy with the completely different backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, and religions inside our household and neighborhood,” their assertion stated.
“We consider this, mixed with publicity to hateful rhetoric, extremist content material, and propaganda unfold throughout components of the web, social media, and different on-line platforms, contributed to his descent into radicalized ideologies and violent beliefs,” stated their assertion, launched by way of their lawyer Colin Rudolph.
His household stated they tried to get him assist
They inspired him to hunt assist and he hung out in rehabilitation facilities, the assertion stated. Vazquez’s mother and father didn’t instantly reply to calls looking for remark from The Related Press. An lawyer who represented Vazquez’s mother and father when their weapons have been confiscated additionally didn’t instantly reply to calls.
In writings by Vazquez and Clark that expressed white supremacist views, Vazquez wrote of getting “some psychological well being points” and being rejected by girls. They counsel each youngsters idolized earlier shooters who’ve died whereas finishing up mass shootings. The writings expressed hatred towards Jewish folks, Muslims, Black folks and a variety of different teams.
Vazquez left the San Diego Unified College District in June 2018 after attending Washington Elementary up till the fifth grade, district spokesperson James Canning informed The Related Press. It’s unclear the place he went to highschool after that.
Clark was enrolled in a digital highschool within the district, Canning stated.
Police started looking for the teenagers on Monday after Clark’s mom known as to say her son was suicidal and ran away. She informed them he was wearing camouflage, had taken a number of weapons from the house, and was with an acquaintance, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl stated earlier this week.
Officers have been nonetheless interviewing the mom about locations the teenagers is perhaps when the capturing started on the county’s largest mosque.
De-radicalizing folks is turning into harder
Vazquez’s father stated in a 2025 courtroom assertion that his household made a concerted effort to steer Caleb Vazquez again onto the appropriate observe. He stated once they locked away their weapons, they have been in communication along with his college, have been monitoring his social media presence intently and he was in remedy twice per week.
“We observe all of his on-line actions, who he talks to, what he talks about, and who he’s mates with,” Marco Vazquez wrote, emphasizing that he didn’t assist his son’s ideology.
Some specialists say it’s more and more tough to assist folks drawn to the sort of radicalism Vazquez and Clark expressed.
Samira Benz works for the Violence Prevention Community, which conducts interventions when persons are radicalized into believing in violent extremism. Benz stated the work has develop into more and more difficult because the web blurs ideologies and creates area of interest, meme-based languages that may be fleeting and exhausting to decipher.
“Even when a father or mother is wanting on the cellphone of their baby, they don’t essentially see one thing unhealthy is occurring,” Benz stated.
Related Press writers Julie Watson and Javier Arciga in San Diego contributed.