Like many other states, California is a melting pot, home to many different ethnic groups and foreign leaders. Hate crimes have been a growing problem in California, as many nationalists are residents within the state. With the recent targeting of a mosque in San Diego, many are asking if it is occurring due to the current war between Iran, Israel, and the USA, or if this is just another attack demonstrating the regression of American society.
On May 18, Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, targeted and attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego, described on its website as the largest mosque in San Diego County, killing three men, Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha, and Nader Awad. After, they then committed suicide before being detained by police.
Both killers have a reported history of questionable actions, with Vaquez alarming his classmates and teachers at High Tech High in Chula Vista after he started dressing up as various mass murderers, a detective with Chula Vista police wrote in a request for a gun violence restraining order last January. Court documents show that Chula police tried to conduct a welfare check on Vasquez, but his father declined to let police talk to him.
Faculty staff at High Tech also reported strange behavior outside of his cosplay of mass murders that included irrational behavior while punching a tree, shaving his head, pointing a banana at people like a gun, and the idolization of Hitler. Despite these signs, Vasquez was never suspended, and due to his father’s uncooperative nature with the police, there was no questioning or evaluation of him in 2024, when these incidents took place.
Clark attended Madison High School virtually and was on track to graduate this year. The two killers met online, with their relationship centered around racism, hate speech, and bigotry. Investigators examined anti-Islamic writings found in the teens’ car, two senior law enforcement officials said. The writings included extremist material espousing antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ views.
The California Civil Rights Department CRD conducted a survey that included three million Californians one week before the shooting, and the data shows that many Californians experience hate acts consistently. The findings from CHIS show an estimated 3.1 million Californians directly experienced at least one act of hate over the course of a year between 2023 and 2024.
“An estimated 1 in 11 Californians directly experienced hate in 2024,” said CRD Director Kevin Kish. “But official hate crime reports only capture a fraction of the picture. This survey makes it absolutely clear that programs like California vs. Hate are vital to help fill the gap. Whether it’s bullying in schools or verbal harassment on the street, we’re stronger when we come together in the face of hate.”
The commissioners and researchers who presented those numbers at this year’s California Civil Rights Summit in San Francisco said the true scale of hate in the state is almost certainly far worse. Law enforcement data, they noted, captures only about 3 percent of actual hate crime victimizations, as approximately 42 percent of even violent hate crimes are never reported to the police.
“This comprehensive survey is key to the Commission on the State of Hate’s mandate to forge partnerships with state government and established scholars to better assess trends, responses, and the extent of increasing bias-motivated aggression, which we’ve shown impacts millions of Californians annually,” said California Commission on the State of Hate Chair Brian Levin. “Moreover, these surveys indicate a tremendous gap between official reporting and the actual number of victimizations occurring each year in our state. Severe underreporting remains a widespread issue, particularly among various communities that have historically been fearful to engage with government, making our enhanced outreach efforts all the more crucial.”