We're learning more details about the two teenage suspects who authorities say are responsible for a shooting at San Diego's largest mosque on Monday that resulted in the murders of three men.
According to officials, the 17 and 18-year-old (who will not be named by Bearing Arms) who carried out the attack took their own lives after fleeing the mosque. Police first became aware of one of the teens when his mom contacted police to report a runaway. During the course of that conversation, authorities learned that several of the mom's firearms were missing, as was her vehicle. The mother also relayed that her son wasn't alone when he left the home, and that both he and his companion were dressed in camo.
[Chief Scott] Wahl said the mother's call triggered a "larger threat assessment picture" and the agency's threat-management unit began working to track down the teens and the car, including using license-plate readers. They deployed officers to a local mall after several hits on the vehicle, and to the teen's high school, though they had no specific threats.
As police tried to zero in on the teens, they got a call at 11:43 a.m. PT. There was an active shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego. Police believe the teens opened fire at the mosque and killed three, including a security guard now being hailed as a hero, before they fled and soon after fatally shot themselves, Wahl said.
"We're all focused on figuring out how this happened and what could we have done to prevent it," Wahl said.
Authorities haven't announced a motive for the shooting, though Wahl said "there was definitely hate rhetoric that was involved", adding that it was "general hate kind of speech ... covered a wide gamut."
Of course, there's all kinds of speculation running rampant on social media. I've seen claims that one of the shooters must be trans because older photos showed him with long hair and baby-faced cheeks, that the teens were Hispanic Nazis intent on murdering Muslims, allegations of white supremacy, etc.
We'll know more in the coming days, but based on Wahl's comments I wonder if the teens aren't part of that loose and unorganized online network called 764, or sometimes referred to as TCC (True Crime Community). This toxic subculture isn't really connected to a particular ideology; it's centered more around nihilism and glorification of mass shootings and those who carry out these attacks than any coherent philosophy. In fact, the DOJ calls 764 and a related group called 8884 "Nihilistic Violent Extremist" groups.
These NVEs share accelerationist goals that include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the U.S. Government. Members of 8884 work in concert with one another towards a common purpose of destroying civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, including minors. NVEs engage in criminal conduct within the United States and abroad, in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social instability. NVEs demand, coerce, and extort victims to engage in variety of violent conduct, including self-mutilation, online and in-person sexual acts, harm to animals, sexual exploitation of siblings and others, acts of violence, threats of violence, suicide, and murder.
The "True Crime Community" is also a part of that same nihilistic violent collective, and several mass shooters in the U.S have had ties to that loose network in recent years. As the Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point reported back in February:
Connections to the TCC are often signaled through manifestos that reference well-known perpetrators, online communications in TCC spaces prior to an attack, and the deliberate imitation of mannerisms, symbols, clothing choices, and inscriptions on weapons. These cues are rarely incidental; perpetrators make their affiliation with the TCC, or with a specific subcommunity within it, legible through a shared symbolic language.
Crucially, these signals are not primarily directed at external audiences; they are aimed inward, toward the TCC itself. Manifestos, symbols, and references such as gun inscriptions or clothing choices mimicking other perpetrators are only fully intelligible to those deeply embedded in these online communities. The meaning of the perpetrator’s outfit choice, mannerisms, and symbols is often layered and requires onlookers to be ‘in the know’ about prior attacks and the collective mythos of the TCC. TCC-linked violent plots are thus deeply performative acts of violence, where recognition by fellow participants is fundamental to the execution of the act.
Authorities have said that there were messages described as "hate speech" scrawled on at least one of the guns used in the San Diego shooting, which is one bit of evidence that suggests the killers may have been inspired by or involved with the TCC.
We'll know more in the coming days, but don't be surprised if the information released by authorities doesn't point to any kind of coherent philosophy or belief system other than a general desire to burn society to the ground; not "left-wing" or "right-wing" extremism, but extremism for extremism's sake.
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