A 17-year-old North Carolina girl was indicted on three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy for allegedly helping record, livestream, and disseminate a white supremacist attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego that killed three men on May 18, 2026, according to Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill.
North Carolina Grand Jury Indicts 17-Year-Old Sarah Lindsey Santiago
Authorities arrested Sarah Lindsey Santiago in North Carolina last week, just before she was scheduled to begin the school year. A Forsyth County grand jury formally indicted her on August 31, 2026, on three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy. Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill announced the charges at a news conference in Winston-Salem, explaining that state prosecutors brought the case because North Carolina law allows a 17-year-old to be tried as an adult.
Under North Carolina law, a person who aids and abets a crime shares criminal liability even if they are not physically present during the offense. Investigators assert that Santiago agreed before the rampage to record a livestream, distribute the video publicly, and publish a manifesto written by the attackers to spread their ideology. According to court records and the indictment, she also purchased a white supremacist patch and mailed it to one of the gunmen to wear during the assault.
“The law in North Carolina is clear: A person may be guilty of a crime, although he or she personally does not do any of the acts necessary to constitute the crime.”
Jim O’Neill, Forsyth County District Attorney
The May 18 Attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego
The underlying shooting unfolded on May 18, 2026, when two teenage gunmen — identified by authorities as 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Vazquez — stormed the Islamic Center of San Diego. The two assailants opened fire while wearing GoPro helmets that captured the incident on video. The attack killed three men: Amin Abdullah, a 51-year-old security guard; Mansour Kaziha, a 78-year-old center caretaker; and Nadir Awad, 57, the husband of an on-site teacher.
Abdullah was praised for his heroic actions in confronting the shooters and initiating a lockdown. His intervention gave staff time to protect 140 children who were inside the mosque’s school just steps away from the gunfire. Realizing they were blocked from entering further, Clark and Vazquez fled outside and subsequently took their own lives inside a vehicle parked a few blocks away from the mosque.
Expanded Targets and White Supremacist Networks
Investigators discovered that the mosque shooting was only the opening phase of a wider violent plot. O’Neill stated that the two shooters intended to execute subsequent mass murders at a local Jewish temple and a predominantly African American high school on the same day. Those secondary attacks did not take place because the shooters took their own lives.
The attackers left behind extensive rambling white supremacist writings that cited accelerationism and pointed to the terrorist who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019 as a primary model. Prosecutors stated that Santiago, Clark, and Vazquez communicated using the encrypted messaging platform Signal within extremist online circles.
“In this underground subculture of hate, they listen to each other, they talk to each other on encoded platforms. It radicalizes one another to the point where they carry out these horrific crimes of violence and murder.”
Jim O’Neill, Forsyth County District Attorney
A Massive Cross-Jurisdictional Investigation
Law enforcement agencies spent months tracing the digital footprint of the livestream. Reid Davis, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office, noted that the investigation required executing more than 30 search warrants, conducting over 100 interviews, and reviewing upwards of 4 million messages. While investigators knew early on that three people watched the initial livestream, identifying and prosecuting the individual responsible for disseminating it took extensive digital forensics.
San Diego County prosecutors issued a statement expressing gratitude to Forsyth County authorities for pursuing accountability beyond California’s borders.
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