Investigators probing San Diego mosque shooting suspects’ possible writings...

Investigators looking into the motivations of two men accused of killing three people at a San Diego mosque Monday are trying to authenticate a document posted online that purportedly details their motivations, three senior law enforcement officials said. The 75-page document has sections apparently written by Caleb Vazquez, 18, and Cain Clark, 17, the suspects identified by law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation. The writings are filled with extremist material espousing anti-Islamic, antisemitic and homophobic views. The authors refer to accelerationism, a white supremacist ideology that promotes violence to speed the formation of a white ethno-state. The material under review includes Nazi iconography, extreme misogyny and racist sentiments about Black people and other minority groups. The authors blame the Jewish community for what they say are the problems of the modern world. The document also contains views that are hostile to President Donald Trump, and the authors describe themselves as anti-MAGA. The authors list Brenton Tarrant — the man who carried out the 2019 shooting at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand — as one of their “heroes.” The Christchurch massacre killed 51 people. Vazquez and Clark are believed to have died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds after the attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, described on its website as the largest mosque in San Diego County. The mosque is in San Diego’s Clairemont neighborhood, roughly 8 miles north of downtown. Police Chief Scott Wahl said Monday that “hate rhetoric” was involved in the shooting, which he said is being investigated as a hate crime. Monday was the first day of Dhul Hijjah, the final month of the Islamic calendar and one of its most sacred periods.