Sports30 June, 20262 min read
Teenagers Kill Three Men in San Diego Mosque, Police Chief Scott Wahl Calls It Hate Crime
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Two teenage suspects killed three men inside a San Diego mosque. Police suspect the motive was a hate crime.
Mosque attack in San Diego
A deadly shooting at a mosque in San Diego, California killed three men inside the Islamic Center in San Diego, and police said they suspect a hate crime as the motive.
“It is fair to say that his actions were heroic. There is no doubt he saved many lives today.”
BBC reported that two teenage suspects shot and killed three men inside the mosque before they killed themselves, with the suspects aged 17 and 18 found dead inside a vehicle a few blocks from the mosque.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said, "It is fair to say that his actions were heroic. There is no doubt he saved many lives today."
The BBC also said the attack began Monday morning, with police receiving the first report of the mosque attack at 11:43 a.m. local time and finding "three bodies were spotted outside the building" moments after arrival.
Motives, lockdowns, and witnesses
Investigators told the BBC that the motives remain unknown, but are presumed to be a "hate crime" because it happened at the mosque and because of writings attributed to one of the suspects. The BBC said the note left by the teen contained "a general hate message and inciting phrases" and that it did not include a specific threat to the mosque, or to any other place or person.
As police responded, the BBC reported that there were children in classrooms when the incident occurred on Monday, and that security lockdowns were imposed on nearby schools. A witness who spoke to CBS News, the U.S. partner of the BBC, told the BBC he heard as many as 30 gunshots sounding like they came from a "semi-automatic weapon".
World Cup watch parties
In Washington DC, an Islamic centre hosted World Cup watch parties that gave worshippers far from home a place to cheer on African and Muslim teams pursuing football history. Al Jazeera described the watch parties as bringing joy to worshippers at the Islamic centre in Washington DC as the World Cup continued.
The Al Jazeera item was published on 30 Jun 2026, and it framed the watch parties as a way for many worshippers to gather around football. In parallel, Al Jazeera’s coverage also highlighted how Islamic centres in the United States can serve as community spaces during major sporting events, including the World Cup watch parties in Washington DC.