The mother of one of the teenage gunmen involved in the deadly San Diego mosque shooting has spoken out as investigators piece together the hours leading up to the attack that left three worshippers dead and shocked a city already on edge.

According to police, the woman was the first person to alert authorities that something was deeply wrong — reporting that her son had disappeared along with firearms and a vehicle shortly before the shooting unfolded at the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18. Authorities later confirmed that two teenage suspects carried out the attack before fleeing the scene and dying by apparent suicide in a nearby vehicle. 

In a newly surfaced account, the mother reportedly described growing fear in the hours before the tragedy, telling police she believed her son was suicidal and may have been influenced by another teenager he was with at the time. Her warning triggered an urgent search involving license plate tracking, school alerts, and patrol units deployed across the city — but the operation would not reach the suspects in time.

By the time officers narrowed their search, gunfire had already erupted at the mosque.

Witnesses described a sudden burst of chaos as worshippers gathered for prayer were forced to flee while shots rang out inside the complex. Among the victims was a security guard who officials say likely prevented the attack from becoming even more deadly through his actions during the initial moments of violence.

Authorities say the attackers — aged 17 and 18 — later died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds after abandoning their vehicle a short distance from the mosque. Inside the car, investigators reportedly discovered materials described as “generalized hate rhetoric” and anti-Islamic writings, prompting officials to treat the case as a hate crime while continuing to examine motive and planning.

But it is the mother’s timeline that is now drawing renewed attention from investigators.

Police are examining whether critical warning signs were missed in the short window between her initial report and the moment the attack began — a gap that lasted only hours but may now hold answers about how the suspects moved from reported distress to mass violence.

Officials have not released the full content of her statements, but sources familiar with the investigation say she also mentioned a handwritten note and concerns about escalating behavior in the days before the shooting — details that have not yet been publicly confirmed.

As the investigation continues, one question is increasingly difficult to ignore: how two teenagers already flagged as missing, armed, and possibly suicidal were still able to reach a crowded place of worship before police could intervene — and whether the final warning their mother gave contains clues that