Speaker 1: And the folks. It is Tuesday, May nineteenth, and the
Speaker 1: shooting itself, the incident was frightening enough, but this morning
Speaker 1: we're getting more and more, yes, frightening and disturbing details
Speaker 1: about the deadly mosque shooting in San Diego. And with that,
Speaker 1: welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Roobes. Three dead,
Speaker 1: the two suspects dead. The thing that's really really amazing
Speaker 1: to think, Robes, is that they were looking for these
Speaker 1: two guys. Police were for hours before the shooting ever started.
Speaker 1: That's one of the details we're getting. This story is
Speaker 1: just a head scratcher, right.
Speaker 2: That was a fascinating part of this that the seventeen
Speaker 2: year old suspects mom called nine to one one on
Speaker 2: Monday morning at nine forty two am. They have the
Speaker 2: time stamp. The shooting took place almost exactly two hours later.
Speaker 2: For those two hours, police were trying to find her son,
Speaker 2: who she described as suicidal, dressed in all camo. He
Speaker 2: had taken her vehicle, and he had taken three guns
Speaker 2: from the home, and she told police, I think something
Speaker 2: bad's about to happen.
Speaker 1: Fair to say this was a desperate, frantic search around
Speaker 1: San Diego for hours, and I guess robes the community
Speaker 1: didn't even know the threat necessarily was out there. I
Speaker 1: don't know what police. Police did everything. It sounds like
Speaker 1: they could to stop this before. They didn't know what
Speaker 1: the guys were up to, and they were trying to
Speaker 1: track them down. We'll get into that a little more,
Speaker 1: but folks, on this Tuesday morning, we have confirmation, yes,
Speaker 1: three people were killed at the largest mosque in San
Speaker 1: Diego yesterday when two young men, both teenagers, opened fire
Speaker 1: at that mosque. So let's go through robes and how
Speaker 1: this kind of played out. To start with that nine
Speaker 1: to one to one call, the mom alerted police, we
Speaker 1: got a problem and it was serious enough. Did she
Speaker 1: from your understanding, was she saying he's suicidal or she
Speaker 1: thought he was actually up to something else.
Speaker 3: She thought it was both.
Speaker 2: He left behind a suicide night, so she said, I
Speaker 2: have a suicide note. He's suicidal, but he has a
Speaker 2: friend with him, and that was the puzzling thing.
Speaker 3: She called it a companion.
Speaker 2: So we now know it was an eighteen year old
Speaker 2: who actually attended the high school that's about a mile
Speaker 2: from the mosque, and so when police were putting together
Speaker 2: who he was with that. Both of the teens were
Speaker 2: dressed in camel, they had access to at least three
Speaker 2: weapons and a vehicle, and were suicidal. It seems strange
Speaker 2: if two people together aren't usually suicidal together. So she
Speaker 2: even said, I think something bad's about to happen.
Speaker 3: So you know where.
Speaker 2: Police went first, the high school, the local high school,
Speaker 2: because the eighteen year old attended there. The seventeen year
Speaker 2: old was being schooled at home. He was doing a
Speaker 2: online high school course. So they actually tried to track
Speaker 2: the vehicle using the license plates and they're literally going
Speaker 2: across as you pointed out San Diego, trying to find
Speaker 2: this vehicle and trying to find these two teenagers.
Speaker 1: And then lo and behol what time exactly eleven forty.
Speaker 3: Two was it forty three?
Speaker 2: Police were notified of an active shooter at the Islamic Center.
Speaker 1: So this Islamic Center, again the largest in San Diego.
Speaker 1: But this is a place that has a school there
Speaker 1: for kids. It's a community center. They do prayers all day,
Speaker 1: five times a day. I do believe there that they're held.
Speaker 1: So this is a very active open It's a community
Speaker 1: center sitting in right in the community of a very vibrant,
Speaker 1: if you will community. It's a neighborhood. Well, I'm saying
Speaker 1: it's a quite frankly, it's a nice San Diego neighborhood,
Speaker 1: a typical what you think of you spend some time
Speaker 1: at sick gorgeous. It's gorgeous out there. So gunfire rings
Speaker 1: out in robes for a while. During the coverage, we
Speaker 1: kept seeing and police were kept saying, we have an
Speaker 1: active shooter. We believe it's contained or neutralized was the
Speaker 1: word they were using, But it seemed as if for
Speaker 1: a little while that the shooter was still somewhere on
Speaker 1: that campus. They were only saying one shooter sopes. All
Speaker 1: eyes were on what's going on in that building, and
Speaker 1: it turns out they weren't even in the building.
Speaker 3: Right. This was crazy. So that call came in at
Speaker 3: eleven forty three. It's pretty impressive.
Speaker 2: Police were there at the center by eleven forty seven,
Speaker 2: So four minutes later they were there, and we now
Speaker 2: know pretty much immediately they found three victims right outside
Speaker 2: the mosque, but they don't know where the shooter or
Speaker 2: shooters are, so they actually had to go through room
Speaker 2: through room. They evacuated all those sweet little kids which
Speaker 2: we've seen the images of you said that broke your
Speaker 2: heart today.
Speaker 1: I do not know why I have mornings sometimes I'm
Speaker 1: a little more tired, a little more emotional, but whatever
Speaker 1: reason robes the image of those kids holding hands like,
Speaker 1: trying to be escorted to safety because of bullets because
Speaker 1: somebody hates Muslims. They're five. I mean, that's something about it.
Speaker 1: We see it here in New York all the time
Speaker 1: with all the schools and whatnot, all the kids walking
Speaker 1: down the street together. They're attached, but it's just you
Speaker 1: stop every time you go, oh, they're so cuteable, it's
Speaker 1: so cute to see that being done. I don't know
Speaker 1: why that messed me up. To see that being done
Speaker 1: for kids who're having to get away from bullets for
Speaker 1: whatever reason messed me up.
Speaker 3: You're crying right now again.
Speaker 2: But that is one of those heartbreaking moments because they're
Speaker 2: just so sweet and innocent, and they're so they're little
Speaker 2: sponges and they can be shaped into anything and anyone,
Speaker 2: and to think that this is one of probably going
Speaker 2: to be their earliest memory, and a traumatic one at that,
Speaker 2: and this is life changing to live through something like this,
Speaker 2: to experience something like this. It's incredibly sad, and when
Speaker 2: we get into who these victims.
Speaker 3: Are, it's going to break your heart a little bit more.
Speaker 2: But we know that the officers were going from room
Speaker 2: to room, they were evacuating all those sweet little kids
Speaker 2: and their teachers and everyone who was there in the center,
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, a landscaper is shot
Speaker 2: at from a vehicle, and this is pretty miraculous.
Speaker 3: He's they he would have died, police say they believe
Speaker 3: if he hadn't been wearing a helmet.
Speaker 1: So this is where the story, at least as far
Speaker 1: as the investigation goes, or the active I guess pursuit
Speaker 1: of suspects takes a turn because poliefs are focused on
Speaker 1: the mosque. We're watching the live images on television online.
Speaker 1: You got police surrounding this place full tactical gear looking
Speaker 1: for the suspect in the mosque. When they get a
Speaker 1: report a few blocks away there's another shooting, right, and.
Speaker 3: So they're like, what's happening.
Speaker 2: So then they head to that area just a short
Speaker 2: distance away, and they find the vehicle that they've been
Speaker 2: looking for for the last couple of hours with the
Speaker 2: two suspects inside, with self inflicted gunshot wounds. And look,
Speaker 2: police have said that they have found hate speech crawled
Speaker 2: on a scrawled.
Speaker 3: On one of the weapons.
Speaker 2: That suicide note was back at the seventeen year old home,
Speaker 2: and they say they found writings containing racial pride.
Speaker 3: That's how they described it.
Speaker 2: They said they would give more details later, but they
Speaker 2: were just letting reporters know and folks know that, Yes,
Speaker 2: they are investigating this as a hate crime because they
Speaker 2: have very specific reason too.
Speaker 1: There you said, I mean, I think the first press
Speaker 1: conference he suggested that this is going to be looked
Speaker 1: at as a hate crime until otherwise noted. Look, is
Speaker 1: it Islamic center Robes, Yes, we could talk about Islamophobia
Speaker 1: in this country. That's really I guess we got more
Speaker 1: familiar with it after nine to eleven, and it continues
Speaker 1: with a lot of rhetoric. We see it has gotten worse.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that in just a moment. But why
Speaker 1: these two why teenagers? Why do this first? Why shoot
Speaker 1: at a landscaper and then drive a little way longer
Speaker 1: and kill yourselves. It's a bizarre. So that part, I
Speaker 1: guess that was it. Robes. The story kind of really
Speaker 1: really quickly turned into what the hell when we see
Speaker 1: what we're arguably robes accustomed to seeing an active shooter situation,
Speaker 1: we see that goes from a landscaper being shot at
Speaker 1: to a car abandoned in the middle of the road
Speaker 1: with two dead teenagers. What in the hell now? The
Speaker 1: teenager part even adds to some mystery. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if it happened to you too, Rose, but I
Speaker 1: Cleebold and Columbine partners, and these things.
Speaker 2: Came to mar their obviously to just go to the
Speaker 2: links that they went to to do what they did,
Speaker 2: but then to have a co conspirator, have someone do
Speaker 2: it with you, and then have a packed to die
Speaker 2: by suicide at the end, it just seems so far fetched.
Speaker 2: It doesn't seem possible. And then to see whose lives
Speaker 2: they took. We're getting word from KTLA is doing some
Speaker 2: reporting there on the ground, and they've been there on
Speaker 2: the community and family members have let them know a
Speaker 2: little bit about some of the victims. Police have not
Speaker 2: given the official information, but we do know, and a
Speaker 2: lot has been said about the security guard. We even
Speaker 2: heard police talk about the security guard saying he absolutely
Speaker 2: saved lives. He was heroic in his final act and
Speaker 2: his name was a Mean Abdullah, father of eight. Think
Speaker 2: about that, how many lives were changed in that split second.
Speaker 2: And he was there trying to protect this mosque and
Speaker 2: he gave his life doing so. And there were two
Speaker 2: other staff members who were also killed, one who worked
Speaker 2: in the center's food store, and then a teacher. And
Speaker 2: kat Katla got this incredible story. This teacher actually was
Speaker 2: at home, he lived across the street.
Speaker 3: He heard gun a gunfire ring out.
Speaker 2: He ran towards the school and he said it was
Speaker 2: They said it was because his wife was working there,
Speaker 2: and he got so afraid that she might be in trouble.
Speaker 2: So you hear about this brave husband who's running and
Speaker 2: rushing towards the gunfire because he knows his wife is inside,
Speaker 2: and he was shot and killed.
Speaker 1: What was the I don't think. I didn't read anywhere
Speaker 1: he had a military background or anything, right, a police
Speaker 1: background we don't know much about. But I say that.
Speaker 3: Because it looks military.
Speaker 1: Well, it was the first thing that came to mind.
Speaker 1: That's what police are supposed to be trained to do.
Speaker 1: You hear gunfire and you run towards it. The rest
Speaker 1: of us are trained to hear it and run away.
Speaker 1: But what is the exception.
Speaker 2: When someone you love is inside boom and in harm's way?
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 3: I just that that moved me to think this.
Speaker 2: He was safe in his home, his wife actually was okay, okay,
Speaker 2: and he ran towards the gunfire to protect her. Oh
Speaker 2: that like gutted me when I read that this morning.
Speaker 1: Because it's two teenagers. What mad at Muslims for what
Speaker 1: we say we got to do better, but man, we
Speaker 1: keep doing worse. Sometimes we feel these stories are just
Speaker 1: awful because of what.
Speaker 3: Because of what I know.
Speaker 2: So when we come back, we're going to talk a
Speaker 2: little bit about what we know of these suspects. Not
Speaker 2: going to give their names because we really just don't
Speaker 2: want to give them any credit for what they did.
Speaker 3: So it's kind of a deliberate choice.
Speaker 2: A lot of news organizations do that, and we've done
Speaker 2: that for some time as well, and then we will
Speaker 2: talk about it. You mentioned Muslim discrimination at an all
Speaker 2: time high, and welcome back everyone to this episode of
Speaker 2: Amy and TJ. We are talking about that horrific shooting
Speaker 2: at the largest mosque in San Diego, the Islamic center
Speaker 2: of San Diego. Three people were killed a security guard,
Speaker 2: someone who worked in the food store there, and a teacher,
Speaker 2: and that loss of life is just gutting when you
Speaker 2: hear their stories, who these men were, how they lived
Speaker 2: their lives, and then those images of those children rushed
Speaker 2: out of that center as two teenagers, apparently motivated by hate,
Speaker 2: went in to do as much damage as possible, shot
Speaker 2: a lance, shot at a landscaper on their way out,
Speaker 2: and then killed themselves in the seventeen year old Moms BMD.
Speaker 1: We say this oftentimes, and I know it happens. You
Speaker 1: don't necessarily hear about it in mainstream news. You're not
Speaker 1: going to see it on broadcast network today. But when
Speaker 1: these stories happen, like, why didn't you start with yourself?
Speaker 3: Oh, my goodness, the plan I have thought that every.
Speaker 1: Time to die by suicide, start with you. And why
Speaker 1: you have to take out a husband, take out a
Speaker 1: father of eight?
Speaker 3: Why why ensuring your spot? And hell, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Again, we don't make a big deal, but I just
Speaker 1: you said it to me. We had a quick discussion
Speaker 1: that seventeen and eighteen year old. I don't think officially
Speaker 1: I've been identified by police, but their names are confirmed
Speaker 1: through yes several sources. Well, why it's fine to know
Speaker 1: the name. Well know that you can find the names
Speaker 1: if you want to, but yeah.
Speaker 3: It is you just don't you know.
Speaker 2: It's I think it started when you when we initially
Speaker 2: covered Columbine all those years ago, and you said, Dylan Cleebeld.
Speaker 3: You remember these names, yep.
Speaker 2: And they live on in infamy and they inspire copycats.
Speaker 2: They look up to these people disgustingly, and you almost
Speaker 2: place their names in history, which is part of perhaps
Speaker 2: why some of these folks go out the way they do,
Speaker 2: because they want to be remembered and maybe even beloved
Speaker 2: by some for the I guess the motivation of why
Speaker 2: they did what they did so yet to give their
Speaker 2: names any weight is just for us, not something we
Speaker 2: want to do. But the seventeen year old I thought
Speaker 2: this was interesting. He obviously he had some issues. He
Speaker 2: had been at the San Diego School of Creative and
Speaker 2: Performing Arts, but in twenty twenty one he.
Speaker 3: Was switched to online learning.
Speaker 2: He went to the Eye High Virtual Academy, so he
Speaker 2: was home schooled basically, or at least he was doing
Speaker 2: it online. But it's interesting Madison High School, which is
Speaker 2: where his Cohort went he actually was a star member
Speaker 2: of the wrestling team the year before one first place,
Speaker 2: and folks who were there on the wrestling team with
Speaker 2: him said he was a good kid.
Speaker 3: He was always just trying to fit in and find friends.
Speaker 2: Never heard him say anything against Muslim zero.
Speaker 1: Warning signs, So okay, that's now. That is another added
Speaker 1: bizarre element to this story. Robes Oftentimes there is some
Speaker 1: kind of a warning sign. He was say yeah he
Speaker 1: was this yet like it traces back and somebody didn't
Speaker 1: speak up when they heard something this one good kids.
Speaker 2: Yes, maybe it will it will find out something that
Speaker 2: we don't know now.
Speaker 3: But he was on track to graduate this year. He
Speaker 3: had no disciplinary history, so his life was beginning. He
Speaker 3: was about to go out in the world.
Speaker 2: His grandparents spoke briefly to some reporters and yes, they
Speaker 2: said he was a good kid, which this is a
Speaker 2: seventeen years seventeen year old.
Speaker 3: They said he was a good kid. They said he was.
Speaker 2: They were in shock, and they added were very sorry
Speaker 2: for what happened. I mean, look, his family was there
Speaker 2: in San Diego. His mother called nine one one concerned
Speaker 2: about her son. His grandparents lived nearby. It doesn't make
Speaker 2: any sense. And the eighteen year old, we don't know
Speaker 2: a lot of about him, only that he was a
Speaker 2: student at Madison High School, so he was eighteen. I'm
Speaker 2: assuming he was a senior again about to start his life.
Speaker 2: It just doesn't make any sense. But they had apparently
Speaker 2: scrawled we don't know what the words were exactly, some
Speaker 2: rhetoric on some of the weapons.
Speaker 3: There was some racial pride writings in the vehicle.
Speaker 1: And that's the term they're using, racial pride.
Speaker 3: Racial pride.
Speaker 1: You can go to whatever conclusion you want what that
Speaker 1: might suggest.
Speaker 2: There's a picture of a gas can outside of the
Speaker 2: vehicle that had basically SS like Hitler.
Speaker 3: So yes, there seems to be some.
Speaker 2: Very disturbing writing and imagery that was left behind that
Speaker 2: police will piece together and I'm sure we'll get more
Speaker 2: details on that. But speaking to the Muslim discrimination babe,
Speaker 2: you know what, this makes sense. Discrimination reports surged since
Speaker 2: the Gaza War in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3: Wow, makes sense.
Speaker 2: The American Islamic Relations Group they study and they have
Speaker 2: been tracing anti Muslim discrimination since nineteen ninety six. Last year,
Speaker 2: by far record setting year for discrimination complaints. There were
Speaker 2: more than eighty six hundred discrimination complaints, and that apparently
Speaker 2: was significantly higher than any other year.
Speaker 3: But it's just been getting worse, and this certainly won't.
Speaker 1: Help seventeen and eighteen. What happens. I just wonder what
Speaker 1: happens ropes and we always look for answers after these things,
Speaker 1: and what do we do. I haven't seen the debates
Speaker 1: in the back and forth and the conversation that's being
Speaker 1: had around this, but you can already guess what it's like.
Speaker 1: You can already guess what they're saying and what people
Speaker 1: are saying. There's nothing else to be said other than
Speaker 1: this is awful. It's tragic. Stop attacking people based on
Speaker 1: their religion. Okay, that should be the end of the story.
Speaker 2: Lumping all people like making innocent people pay for some
Speaker 2: hatred you have towards I don't know, but certainly not
Speaker 2: the people you killed.
Speaker 3: Certainly not the people you killed.
Speaker 2: There are so many tributes to this security guard already online,
Speaker 2: people talking about him.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: I was watching video of him, like smiling and fist
Speaker 2: bumping people when they walked into the center.
Speaker 3: He was just joyful. He stood outside underneath this tent
Speaker 3: and he looked like a badass.
Speaker 2: He had a vest, he looked military to me and
Speaker 2: was just you could see the warmth on his face.
Speaker 3: You could see the kindness.
Speaker 2: In his face, and it just breaks your heart to
Speaker 2: think that he had to pay with his life.
Speaker 1: Over what because somebody's mad at Muslims. This today, this
Speaker 1: investigation really is just getting going. We certainly are expecting
Speaker 1: some updates today from authorities, but for now to teenagers suicide.
Speaker 1: Two teenagers dead by suicide after first killing three people
Speaker 1: at the largest Muslim center in San Diego, the largest
Speaker 1: mosque there, and just another one rogues. We didn't even
Speaker 1: put together the numbers on shootings and mass shooting things
Speaker 1: for this year. It's depressing as hell, it is. The
Speaker 1: folks just wanted to give you this morning update. A
Speaker 1: lot of developments and new information came in overnight, but
Speaker 1: we appreciate you, as always spending some time with us.
Speaker 1: We are just getting started on this day and on
Speaker 1: this news feed. There is a lot of news this morning,
Speaker 1: so we always appreciate you spending some time with us.
Speaker 1: On behalf of my dear Amy Robot, I'm TJ. Holmes.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to Y'allson