San Diego gunman was 'idolizing Nazis and mass shooters,' prompting gun removal from home in 2025

Key Points:

• Fifteen months before the San Diego Islamic Center shooting, police obtained a gun violence restraining order to remove firearms from the home of Caleb Liam Vazquez’s father due to concerns about Caleb’s mental health and extremist behavior.
• Caleb Vazquez, 18, who was undergoing mental health treatment and had been involuntarily hospitalized, and 17-year-old Cain Clark carried out the attack, leaving three men dead before dying by self-inflicted wounds.
• The Vazquez family stated Caleb struggled with autism and radicalization through online hate and extremist content, emphasizing their shock and condemnation of his violent actions, which contradict their family values.
• An investigation revealed the shooters were radicalized by white nationalist ideologies, leaving behind a 75-page manifesto promoting hate against multiple groups and advocating for societal collapse through race war.
• Despite previous interventions, including firearm removal and mental health treatment, authorities and the family acknowledge the difficulty in preventing the tragedy amid the influence of dangerous online extremist spaces.