A shooting at the Islamic Centre of San Diego in California has left three people dead, including a security guard, after gunmen opened fire at the city’s largest mosque.
Police said officers responded to reports of an active shooting at the facility on Monday and later discovered three bodies outside the building.
Scott Wahl, San Diego police chief, said officers forced entry into the mosque as multiple emergency calls came in from nearby locations.
“There was somewhere between 50 to 100 police officers inside of that facility,” Wahl said during a press briefing.
He explained that while officers were responding to the mosque attack, another shooting was reported a few blocks away, where a landscaper was shot at but escaped unharmed.
Police later located a vehicle in the middle of the road containing two suspects believed to be responsible for the attack.
“Both deceased,” Wahl said, adding that the suspects, aged 17 and 19, “appear to have died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds”.
Authorities praised the slain security guard for helping to prevent further casualties.
“The security guard who was killed played a pivotal role in assisting from this being much worse,” the police chief stated.
Investigators are currently examining what led to the attack, with Wahl noting that officials were treating the incident as a possible hate crime.
“We are actively investigating the things that led up to this. Obviously these things don’t typically just happen on a whim,” he said.
US President Donald Trump described the shooting as a “terrible situation”, saying authorities would investigate the matter thoroughly.