5 killed, including two suspects, after shooting at mosque in America

Two young men opened fire at the Islamic Center in San Diego, California, killing a guard and two men outside the mosque, police said, adding that the suspects were found dead, apparently because they shot themselves.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wall said local law enforcement and the FBI were investigating the attack on San Diego County's largest mosque as a hate crime, however, authorities have not publicly stated any specific motive behind the attack.

Officials said the whereabouts and safety of all the children who were at the center's day school were confirmed after the shooting, which occurred at about 11:40 a.m. local time.

The mother of one of the suspects complains about her son

At a news conference in the evening, Wall said the mother of one of the suspects called police about two hours before the shooting to report that her son, whom she described as suicidal tendencies, had fled the house with three firearms she owned and her car.

The mother was quoted as saying that her son was accompanied  by a friend and that the two were wearing camouflage clothes,  and police began efforts to track down the two young men and patrolled a nearby mall and her son's secondary school as a precautionary measure when calls were received that there had been a shooting at the mosque.

Wall said that prior to the shooting, police were not aware of a "specific threat" to the mosque or any religious center, school, shopping area or any other location.

Taha Hassan Imam, director of the Islamic Center for Journalists, said: "We have never seen a tragedy like this before... "Targeting a place of worship is absolutely outrageous."

Dozens of law enforcement officers called to the Islamic Center  found the bodies of three mosque men shot dead outside the building, including a guard that officials said helped prevent further deaths.

Police soon afterwards discovered the bodies of the two young men, aged 17 and 18, in a car in the middle of the street, apparently by suicide, who had apparently died by suicide, with police initially estimating the age of the older man as 19.

Circumstances remain unclear

Wall said that  between 50 and100 police officers from across the San Diego area immediately responded to the first report of someone shooting and gathered within four minutes at the mosque, located in the Claremont residential and commercial neighborhood of California's second-most populous city.

Footage broadcast by local television channels showed dozens of patrol cars on a highway bridge next to the Islamic Center, and  police with  tactical equipment and rifles were seen stationed on the roof of the mosque near its dome.  

While police were responding in large numbers to a report of a shooting at the mosque, a park coordinator was also shot a few blocks away, and investigators are treating the two incidents as related, Wall said,  adding that the park coordinator was unharmed, possibly because of a helmet he was wearing that repelled a bullet, adding that investigators are still gathering details about the causes and circumstances of the shooting.

In March, a 41-year-old Lebanese-born American committed suicide after ramming his truck into Michigan's largest synagogue, shooting at guards and causing an explosion with fireworks. The synagogue near Detroit also houses a day school, as does the San Diego Mosque.