A 17-year-old North Carolina girl, Sarah Santiago, has been charged as an adult with three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy in connection with a deadly attack on a San Diego mosque. Prosecutors allege that Santiago helped two California teenagers, Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, who shot and killed three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18 before taking their own lives. According to the charges, Santiago allegedly agreed in advance to record and share a live video of the attack and to spread the white-supremacist writings of the shooters. She is also accused of purchasing a patch with a white-supremacist symbol and sending it to one of the attackers to wear during the incident.
Santiago’s attorney, Alan Doorasamy, has said that prosecutors have not provided enough details to allow him to properly defend his client. Doorasamy recently filed a formal request for more specific information about the charges, known as a “bill of particulars,” and a court hearing has been scheduled to consider the motion. The request does not aim to obtain actual evidence but seeks clarification on the allegations. Prosecutors have not yet responded to the request, and the Forsyth County District Attorney's Office has not commented on the matter.
Santiago was arrested last month and is being held without bail. Under North Carolina law, if convicted of aiding and abetting, she would face the same penalties as if she had committed the attacks herself. Meanwhile, the two attackers, Clark and Vazquez, stormed the Islamic Center on May 18, engaging in a brief gunfight with a security guard who helped initiate a lockdown. The guard, Amin Abdullah, was killed along with two others before the attackers took their own lives. They left behind writings filled with hate speech and cited the 2019 Christchurch mosque attack in New Zealand as an inspiration. Authorities also said the pair had planned to attack a Jewish temple and Black students at a high school.
Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill praised the security guard and other victims for helping save many lives during the attack. In a statement, the Vazquez family said Caleb Vazquez had autism and had developed resentment toward certain aspects of his identity. They believe that, combined with exposure to online hate speech, these factors may have contributed to his radicalization.
North Carolina Teen Faces Murder Charges Linked to San Diego Mosque Attack
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