A 17-year-old North Carolina girl was indicted on three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy by a Forsyth County grand jury on Monday for aiding and abetting two teenage gunmen who killed three people during a mass shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego in May.
Law enforcement arrested Sarah Lindsey Santiago last week following an investigation into the May 18 attack, according to Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill. Investigators stated that Santiago recorded a livestream of the shooting from North Carolina, distributed the footage online, and published a manifesto written by the two attackers. She will be tried as an adult due to the terrorism-related nature of the charges.
Grand Jury Indictment and North Carolina Aiding-and-Abetting Charges
Under North Carolina law, aiding-and-abetting charges carry the same penalties as if the girl had committed the attack herself, as the Associated Press reported during a press conference held in Winston-Salem by District Attorney O’Neill. Prosecutors detailed that Santiago agreed prior to the shooting to record the livestream, distribute it, and release a document written by the attackers. Court documents show she also purchased a patch bearing a white-supremacist symbol and sent it to one of the gunmen to wear during the attack.
According to NBC 7 San Diego, FBI Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis noted that Santiago had multiple opportunities where the crime could have been reported before it happened. Davis stressed that the law requires individuals with credible knowledge of planned violence to come forward.
“When someone has credible knowledge that a crime is going to be planned or going to be committed, particularly an act of violence, the law requires you to come forward. The failure to do so must have consequences.”
Reid Davis, FBI Special Agent in Charge
The May 18 Attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego
The May 18 mass shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego claimed the lives of three men. The two primary gunmen—identified in court records as Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18—stormed the Islamic Center on May 18 before being driven back outside by a security guard who exchanged gunfire with them as he initiated a lockdown, helping to protect 140 children who were just steps away, as The Guardian reported.
The three victims killed were Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad. The three men were outside the Islamic Center and its school at the time of the shooting. All three men were credited with protecting the nearly 150 students inside and countless others.
“His actions, without a doubt, delayed, distracted and ultimately deterred these two individuals from gaining access to the greater areas of the mosque, where as many as 140 kids were within 15 feet of these suspects.”
Scott Wahl, San Diego Police Chief, via Newswav
Ideological Motivations and Subsequent Target Plans
Following the exchange of gunfire with security, the pair killed the guard, Amin Abdullah, and two other men before taking their own lives in a vehicle nearby. Investigators recovered rambling writings full of vitriol against a wide range of people left behind by the pair, which cited the shooter who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, as one of their models for their violence. District Attorney O’Neill stated that the two also planned subsequent attacks on two other targets: a Jewish temple and a predominantly Black high school.
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, driven by an intent to accelerate the collapse of society. In a written statement regarding Caleb Vazquez, the Vazquez family said Caleb Vazquez was on the autism spectrum and had grown to resent parts of his identity. The family said they believed that, combined with exposure to hateful rhetoric online, contributed to his radicalization.
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