Girl, 17, indicted for murder in livestreamed San Diego mosque attack

A North Carolina grand jury indicted a 17-year-old girl on three counts of first-degree murder Monday, accusing her of helping two teenagers plan and record the May 18 attack that killed three men at a San Diego mosque.

Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill said at a news conference in Winston-Salem that the girl, identified in court records as Sarah Lindsey Santiago, was arrested on Aug. 27 and also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. She is being held without bond and is charged as an adult.

Santiago was in North Carolina when the gunmen opened fire in California. Under state law, a person who aids and abets a crime faces the same penalties as the person who carried it out, and O'Neill said prosecutors charged her in North Carolina because she can be tried there as an adult.

What the indictment alleges

According to the indictment, Santiago agreed before the attack to record the livestream as the gunmen filmed it, to distribute the recording afterward, and to release a document the attackers wrote to justify the violence. Prosecutors allege she carried out each of those tasks.

She didn't have to be in California, she's in our jurisdiction. And today, a grand jury indicted her and held her responsible for her actions leading up to that disastrous day in May.

Santiago is also accused of buying a patch bearing a white-supremacist symbol and sending it to Caleb Vazquez, who wore it during the attack, the indictment says. The symbol, a Sonnenrad, or sunwheel, also called the Black Sun, was invented by the Nazis in the 1930s, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The conspiracy count stems from allegations that Santiago, Clark and Vazquez planned to kill worshippers at the Islamic Center, at the Kehilat Ariel Messianic Synagogue in San Diego, and Black students at a public high school in the city.

Investigators determined that three people watched the livestream of the attack, O'Neill said. At first they knew only that one viewer was a woman in the Eastern time zone, before identifying Santiago. He declined to say whether the other two viewers had been identified or would be charged.

If convicted in North Carolina, Santiago faces life in prison without parole.

The attack in May

Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, parked at the Islamic Center on May 18 and ran past the security guard, who exchanged gunfire with them and triggered a lockdown that protected 140 children steps away, authorities said. The pair went into the building and left through a back door into the parking lot, killing the guard and two other men before taking their own lives in a vehicle nearby.

There exists in our world an underground subculture. It's an echo chamber of intense hate against different cultures and religions.

The three men killed were Amin Abdullah, 51, the security guard; Mansour Kaziha, 78; and Nadir Awad, 57, the husband of a teacher at the center. Abdullah began firing at the attackers as they ran past him. Kaziha and Awad were shot in the parking lot after the gunmen came back out of the building, and authorities have credited the two men with drawing the attackers away from those gathered inside.

Clark's mother called San Diego police at 9:42 a.m. to report her son missing along with one of her firearms, a call the department logged as a runaway juvenile and which made no mention of suicidal or violent behavior. She called again at 10:41 a.m. to report a suicide note, hate-filled writings and more missing weapons, and said he had left with a companion, both dressed in camouflage. Officers were still trying to find the teenagers when the first calls came from the mosque at about 11:42 a.m.

Searches of homes tied to the attackers turned up more than 30 guns and a crossbow, along with rifles, ammunition, tactical gear and electronics, police said in May. The guns used in the attack were not registered to either shooter, and how they obtained them remains under investigation.

What the writings show

The attackers left behind writings full of hatred toward a wide range of people and named the gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019 as one of their models, according to a review by CBS News. The document opens with an antisemitic passage and calls for a violent race war.

The writings cited far-right ideas, including the claim that white people are being replaced by other populations, and directed hatred at Jewish people, Muslims, the LGBTQ+ community, Black people, women and the political left and right. The attackers indicated they were trying to accelerate the collapse of society.

The Islamic Center had strengthened its security before the attack after receiving threatening messages, erecting a fence, installing bulletproof windows and holding active-shooter drills at its school, according to CNN's account. O'Neill credited the guard and the other victims with saving many lives.

Vazquez had been in a mental health program until the day before the shooting, a federal law enforcement official told CNN, though the reason for his release was not disclosed. In 2025, after Vazquez was placed on a psychiatric hold, law enforcement filed a gun violence emergency protective order to seize firearms at his parents' home amid concerns about behavior that court documents described as idolizing Nazis and mass shooters.

In a written statement, the Vazquez family said Caleb was on the autism spectrum and had grown to resent parts of his identity, which they believed, along with hateful rhetoric he encountered online, contributed to his radicalization.

A cross-country investigation

The case against Santiago grew out of an investigation spanning North Carolina and California that included more than 100 interviews, over 30 search warrants and a review of more than 4 million messages, authorities said. The FBI's joint terrorism task forces in San Diego and Charlotte worked the inquiry with the Winston-Salem Police Department and the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office, which is handling the murder investigation in California, said it was aware of the North Carolina prosecution and grateful for O'Neill's work. Its statement said the inquiry into the killings includes identifying anyone with potential criminal liability.

Reid Davis, the FBI special agent in charge in Charlotte, said the case was meant to reach people who believe they can act anonymously behind their screens. His office said Santiago had multiple opportunities to come forward to law enforcement and that failing to do so carries consequences.

Santiago's attorney, Alan Doorasamy Sr., said in an email to The Associated Press that his client is innocent of all the charges. He said he had not yet received evidence from law enforcement and did not elaborate on any connection between Santiago and the attackers.

O'Neill said the arrest came just before the school year began, and that officials did not know what Santiago was capable of if she returned to class.

Questions still open

It remains unclear whether the two other people who watched the livestream have been identified, or whether they will face charges. The indictment did not specify the platforms on which the video was recorded or shared, and O'Neill declined to say whether the other viewers were known to investigators.

Tazheen Nizam, executive director of the San Diego office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said it is essential to hold everyone involved in such attacks accountable and called for investment in dismantling anti-Muslim hate.

Clark and Vazquez died in the vehicle after the shooting and cannot be prosecuted. Santiago is the only person charged so far, and her case turns on whether digital participation from another state carries the same criminal liability as being at the scene of a killing.

Santiago remains jailed as she awaits trial, more than three months after the mosque attack she is accused of helping to carry out from across the country. If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day by call or text.