IN BRIEF
- The Islamic centre targeted is the largest mosque in San Diego county.
- Police discovered the bodies of two teenage males in a vehicle, dead from apparently self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
A shooting at a mosque complex in California killed three people on Tuesday AEST, with two suspected teenage gunmen later found dead in a car from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, police said.
Police said emergency response teams found the victims outside the sprawling Islamic Center of San Diego, before later finding the alleged shooters, aged 18 and 17, also dead. Police originally gave the elder shooter's age as 19.
TV footage from a helicopter showed armed response teams gathered outside a building, with one unidentified person lying in a pool of blood.
Dozens of patrol cars were lined up around the Islamic Center, described on its website as the largest mosque in San Diego county, which lies in southern California.
After a short period of lockdown when authorities advised residents to stay inside, San Diego police announced that the threat at the centre had been "neutralised".
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"We received a call of an active shooter at the Islamic centre. Within four minutes, officers arrived on scene and observed immediately three deceased victims out in front," San Diego police chief Scott Wahl told reporters.
"We immediately began to deploy with an active shooter response into the mosque and adjacent school," he said, adding that police had received calls about more gunfire nearby, where a landscaper at work had been shot at but not hit.
All of the children who were attending a day school that is part of the mosque complex were accounted for and safe after the shooting, Wahl said.
He said the FBI was called in to assist in the investigation of the incident, which the police chief said authorities were treating as a hate crime.
Wahl said the mother of one of the two suspects had called police about two hours before the shooting to report that her son, whom she described as suicidal, had run away from home taking three guns she owned and her vehicle.
According to the chief, the mother said her son was with a companion and the two were dressed in camouflage.
Police initiated efforts to track down the youths and were dispatching patrols to a nearby shopping mall and the son's high school as a precaution when calls came in reporting the mosque shooting.
Place of worship targeted
Outside the Islamic centre, police found a vehicle in the middle of the street with the alleged shooters dead inside.
"The suspects at this point appear to have died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. There were no officers involved in firing their weapons," Wahl said.
Police said that a security guard at the Islamic centre was among the three victims killed. The identity of the other two fatalities was not immediately clear.
Officials credited the slain security guard as likely having helped prevent further bloodshed.
The attack came the week before the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and the annual Hajj pilgrimage of Islamic faithful to the holy site of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
The imam at the mosque, Taha Hassane, said that all the staff, teachers and children at the mosque were safe.
"We have never experienced tragedy like this before. And at this moment all that I can say is, sending our prayers and standing in solidarity with all the families in our community here," he said.
"It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship," the imam added.
American leaders respond
US President Donald Trump described the shooting as a "terrible situation".
"I've been given some early updates but we're going to be going back and looking at it very strongly," he told reporters.
California governor Gavin Newsom said he and his wife were "horrified by today's violent attack".
"Worshippers anywhere should not have to fear for their lives. Hate has no place in California, and we will not tolerate acts of terror or intimidation against communities of faith."
New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim mayor of a major American city, described the attack as "an apparent act of anti-Muslim violence".
"Islamophobia endangers Muslim communities across this country," he said in a post on X, adding that New York police were boosting deployments to mosques "out of an abundance of caution".
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