Behavior of teen in mosque shooting led police to seize family guns a year before attack

Key Points:

• Caleb Vazquez, one of the teenagers who killed three people at a San Diego mosque, had been flagged by law enforcement in 2025 for idolizing Nazis and exhibiting alarming behavior, leading to the confiscation of 26 guns from his father's home.
• Vazquez and Cain Clark, the other teen involved, were radicalized online and expressed white supremacist views in writings that showed hatred toward multiple groups, including Jews, Muslims, and Black people.
• Court filings reveal Vazquez had mental health struggles, including an involuntary psychiatric hospitalization, and his family stated he was on the autism spectrum and exposed to extremist content online.
• Vazquez's family attempted to get him help through therapy, monitoring his online activity, and securing firearms, but experts note that de-radicalizing individuals influenced by internet-based extremist content is increasingly challenging.
• Police began searching for the teens after Clark's mother reported him missing with weapons, but the search ended tragically with the mosque shooting and the subsequent deaths of both suspects.