US TEEN FACES MURDER CHARGE FOR ROLE IN DEADLY SAN DIEGO MOSQUE ATTACK

Tue 01 September 2026:

A 17-year-old who livestreamed a May shooting that killed three people at a San Diego, California mosque and distributed the attackers’ white supremacist writings has been charged with murder by aiding and abetting, said a prosecutor in North Carolina, where the girl lives.

The young woman from the Southern state was arrested last week and indicted by a grand jury Monday, shortly before the start of the school year.

“The thought of her going back to school or with the weekend approaching, holy days approaching, we didn’t know what she was capable of,” said Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill, referring to the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, set to start on Sept. 11.

Sarah Lindsey Santiago, 17, charged with the murder of three men in a mosque in San Diego, appears in a police booking mugshot released by the Winston-Salem Police Department on August 31, 2026. Winston-Salem Police Department/Handout.

The attackers had also reportedly planned to target a synagogue.

O’Neill said North Carolina law holds that “a person who aids and abets another to commit a crime is guilty of that crime … just as if he or she had personally done all of the acts necessary to constitute the crime.”

Authorities identified the two shooters as Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18. They attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18 before a security guard exchanged gunfire with them and initiated a lockdown, protecting about 140 children inside.

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Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill said at a news conference in Winston-Salem that the girl, identified in court records as Sarah L. Santiago, was arrested last week. A grand jury indicted her on three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy Monday.

“At this time I can confirm that my client is innocent of all these charges,” Santiago’s attorney, Alan Doorasamy Sr., wrote in an email to The Associated Press. He said he had not received evidence from law enforcement and did not elaborate on any connection between Santiago and the attackers.

Under North Carolina law, the aiding-and-abetting charges carry the same penalties as if the girl had committed the attack herself, O’Neill said. She is charged as an adult and was being held without bond.

According to the indictment, Santiago agreed prior to the attack that she would record the livestream as the gunmen filmed it, distribute the recording, and release a document written by the attackers. She carried out those tasks, it said. She’s also accused of purchasing a patch bearing a white-supremacist symbol and sending it to one of the gunmen to wear during the attack.

In all, three people watched the initial livestream, O’Neill said. It was not immediately clear if investigators had identified the others, and the indictment did not specify on which platforms the livestream was recorded or shared.

“The individual here, locally, was the person who was recording the livestream,” O’Neill said. “She disseminated that information and she published their manifesto.”

Police said the gunmen killed the guard, Amin Abdullah, along with Mansour Kaziha and Nader Awad, before killing themselves in a nearby vehicle.

O’Neill said the shooting was livestreamed through GoPro cameras worn by the gunmen.

“Their plan that day was to commit mass murders not only at the mosque but to follow up at a local Jewish temple and finally at a predominantly African American high school there in town,” he said.

Clark and Vazquez also planned subsequent attacks on two other targets: a Jewish temple and a predominantly Black high school, O’Neill said. He credited the guard and other victims at the mosque with having saved countless lives.

The attackers’ writings cited a range of far-right ideological inspirations, including the notion that white people are being replaced by other populations, and detailed their motives and goals. They included hateful rhetoric toward Jewish people, Muslims and Islam, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, Black people, women, and the political left and right.

Tazheen Nizam, executive director of the San Diego office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, said it is essential to hold everyone involved in such attacks accountable.

“We as a community need to invest in dismantling anti-Muslim hate,” Nizam said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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