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

Fifteen months earlier Caleb Liam Vazquez gunned down 3 men astatine the San Diego Islamic Center, Chula Vista constabulary sewage a tribunal bid to region his father’s galore firearms.

Vazquez, 18, was undergoing intelligence wellness curen successful the days earlier Monday’s deadly attack, having been antecedently involuntarily hospitalized by authorities.

His parents, successful the aftermath, said that he was caught up successful a web of online hate, and the tragic events came aft repeated voluntary trips to rehabilitation curen centers.

Vazquez came onto authorities’ radar successful January 2025, erstwhile concerns about his intelligence wellness arose. Chula Vista constabulary revenge a weapon unit emergency protective bid against his father, Marco Vazquez, pinch a constabulary serviceman penning the teen “was progressive successful suspicious behaviour idolizing Nazis and wide shooters.”

Police had acted aft being alerted to the teenager’s writings connected societal media, utilizing a 2014 rule enacted aft Elliot Rodger gunned down six group successful Isla Vista, Calif. The rule allows police, family and friends to get a judge to rumor a weapon unit restraining bid to forestall an individual from getting entree to firearms.

According to the San Diego Superior Court records, the serviceman noted that Caleb Vazquez “was placed connected a 5150 hold” — wherever a personification is deemed a threat to themselves aliases others and involuntarily detained for 72 hours — and that his father, who had 12 registered guns, refused to “allow officers to corroborate if firearms were stored properly.”

In a tribunal declaration, Marco Vazquez acknowledged that he refused to fto the officers, who were location to cheque connected his son, into his home. But, he said, he told them the guns were locked successful a safe and that his boy didn’t person entree to them.

“I americium good alert of the seriousness of the allegations made against my son,” Vazquez wrote successful his tribunal declaration. “That is why my woman and I took the inaugural to region each firearms, ammunition and accessories from our location and unafraid each crisp knives successful our home….”

He went connected to opportunity that aft that day, he transferred his guns (he listed 27 for himself and 2 for his wife) to a national firearms licensee successful National City for retention and told constabulary the same. Despite the transfer, he wrote that he was served pinch the weapon unit restraining order.

Marco Vazquez wrote successful his declaration that he ne'er threatened anyone aliases supported “any convulsive ideology specified arsenic Nazism, racism, schoolhouse shootings, aliases wide shootings.” He added that he and his woman were now monitoring their son’s online communications, were moving pinch his school, and that their boy regularly attended therapy. The New York Times first reported immoderate of the specifications of the tribunal bid connected Thursday.

According to a rule enforcement source, the FBI was alerted to Vazquez’s behaviour — thing that happens regularly successful thousands of specified incidents nationwide. The FBI did not remark connected its knowledge of Vazquez.

Chula Vista constabulary did not return calls and messages seeking comment.

Caleb Vazquez, 18, on pinch Cain Clark, 17, drove to the mosque Monday greeting pinch a scheme for wide murder. They were concisely repelled by a information guard, who, on pinch 2 different victims successful the parking lot, alerted group astatine the halfway and constabulary to the attack, redeeming lives. The attackers were later recovered dormant pinch self-inflicted wounds.

An lawyer for the Vazquez family said they are “deeply sorry for the symptom and devastation caused” and that their son’s actions “do not bespeak the values we raised our family pinch aliases the beliefs we clasp successful our hearts.”

“Over the past respective days, our family has been trying to process the horrific actions carried retired by our boy against the Islamic Center San Diego Community,” sounds the connection from lawyer Colin Rudolph.

“We want to statesman by acknowledging that thing we opportunity aliases do could ever repair the harm his actions person caused. We are wholly heartbroken and devastated by what has happened. We condemn these hateful and convulsive actions entirely.”

The parents said, “Our son’s ideologies do not align pinch our morals aliases principles arsenic a family. Coming from a divers family that not only includes immigrants but Muslims arsenic well, we ever taught the value of acceptance, compassion, and emotion for 1 another.”

A Times investigation recovered some shooters had been radicalized by achromatic nationalists’ online beingness and gathering successful the extremist online community. They near down a 75-page archive that preached hate, anti-Islam ideology and antisemitism and promoted unit and chaos, rule enforcement sources acquainted pinch the investigation told The Times.

The Times has reviewed those writings, which espoused dislike toward Muslims, Jews, Black people, Latinos and the LGBTQ+ community. The Times besides identified societal media accounts believed to beryllium utilized by 1 of the shooters who idolized schoolhouse shootings, the achromatic nationalism activity and neo-Nazi terrorism, and were flush pinch memes from the online far-right extremist community.

In the writings reviewed by The Times, Vazquez advocates for the demolition of the governmental strategy and “all-out title warfare for the intent of societal collapse.”

Vazquez had antecedently attended High Tech High School, a Chula Vista Charter School, which the schoolhouse acknowledged to parents this week successful a letter. The schoolhouse did not return messages for comment.

In their statement, Vazquez’s parents, revealed their boy “was connected the autism spectrum, and it is painfully clear to america now that he struggled not only pinch accepting parts of his ain personality but besides grew to resent them.”

“We judge this, mixed pinch vulnerability to hateful rhetoric, extremist content, and propaganda dispersed crossed parts of the internet, societal media, and different online platforms, contributed to his descent into radicalized ideologies and convulsive beliefs. While location is nary excuse for his actions, we person travel to admit really vulnerable online spaces are that normalize hatred.”

The family said, “he voluntarily spent clip successful aggregate rehabilitation centers,” but yet it was not enough. “We will everlastingly unrecorded pinch the load of wondering whether location was much we could person done to thief forestall this senseless tragedy.”