The concerned mother of one of the teenage San Diego mosque shooters had frantically alerted police that her suicidal son had run away in camouflage and with some of her weapons – sparking a massive hunt in the hours before the bloodshed unfolded.
Police spent two hours locating the suspects — identified as 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Velasquez — before gunshots rang out at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday.
The mother first called police around 9:40 a.m. and warned that her son was suicidal, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said.
The situation only escalated when the mother later learned that weapons were missing from the house and that her car was gone.
She told authorities that her son was dressed in camouflage and was with an acquaintance at the time, which Wahl said was not “consistent with what we would normally see from someone who is suicidal.”
“That led to a bigger picture of the threat,” he said.
As the search intensified, police used automated license plate readers to track the car and went to an area shopping center.
They also alerted a school where at least one of the teens had been a student and continued interviewing the mother, Wahl said.
Officers were still questioning the mother about where the teens might be when they received reports of the shooting about two hours later.
By the time police responded within four minutes of their call, the teenagers had already shot three men, including hero security guard and father of eight, Amin Abdullah.
The suspects were found in a car after killing themselves a few blocks away.
Anti-Islamic writings were found in the suspects’ car and “hate speech” was written on the firearms used in the shooting, sources told The Post.
It was not immediately clear which mothers of the teens first alerted police.
Clark had attended Madison High School and was a standout wrestler, according to the school’s social media page.
The details emerged as authorities planned to execute search warrants related to the investigation on Tuesday as they piece together how and why the shooting unfolded.
