The San Diego attackers’ hate manifesto targeted multiple groups, calling for the ‘destruction of the political system,’ sources say
The gunman who killed three people at the San Diego Islamic Center left behind a 75-page pamphlet that preached hate, anti-Islamism and racism and incited violence and unrest, law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told The Times.
The manifesto was titled “The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant” and referred to Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people and injured 89 others in an attack on a mosque and Islamic center in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, sources said.
The Times reviewed the documents, which sources said promote hatred of Muslims, Jews, blacks and Latinos and the LGBTQ+ community. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
Investigators are trying to determine a motive for Monday’s attack, which they described as a hate crime. They were interviewing the family and friends of the suspects, who died of self-inflicted wounds as the police closed in on them, investigating their digital trail.
Although authorities did not name the suspects, sources identified them as Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez.
The Times found social media accounts under usernames Cain identified as his own and those linking to accounts depicting school shootings as video games, and showing the user wearing camouflage, a skull mask, in front of a Confederate flag wearing symbols associated with Nazi ideology.
Mark Remily, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the San Diego office, said the suspects left behind documents that “describe religious and racial beliefs about what they think the world should look like.”
But officials did not provide details about the texts or comments, adding that they are still using electronic devices and checking the suspects’ online presence to determine how they were abused.
Federal officials also executed three search warrants, which led to the discovery of more than 30 firearms and a crossbow at two locations, Remily said.
He said the officers seized a number of guns, rifles, pistols, ammunition, tactical gears and electronic equipment.
“These suspects did not discriminate who they hated,” said Remily.
According to law enforcement sources, the FBI is investigating a live feed of the attack or the aftermath from inside the BMW that captured the suspects wearing combat clothing including Nazi symbols and visible guns.
The attackers opened fire on the center on Monday morning around 11:30 am, authorities said.
One of the guns had hate speech written on it, law enforcement sources told The Times, and anti-Islamic writings were found in the car.
In the morning, the police said that one of the suspect’s mothers called the authorities saying that her son had left a suicide note and the guns were missing. He told them that his son had gone with a friend who was wearing camouflage. Police were interviewing him when the first reports of the shooting emerged.
The Anti-Defamation League’s analysis of the manifesto referred to the “great replacement theory,” the belief that white people are being replaced by non-white immigrants in their own countries. The ADL quoted a line from the documents: “I believe that hastening the destruction of our present political system and going to race war for the purpose of social collapse is the only way forward…”
The document reportedly revealed other attacks, including a mass shooting at a synagogue in Poway a few years ago.
