NC teen indicted after livestreaming San Diego mosque shooting that killed 3, police say

A Winston-Salem teen was indicted Monday in connection with a deadly shooting at a San Diego mosque earlier this year, after authorities say she attempted to “memorialize” the attack by spreading a video of the shooting and the suspects’ manifesto online.

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Sarah Santiago, 17, was arrested last week on three counts of murder and one count of felony conspiracy for allegedly aiding and abetting the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego that left three dead in May. Santiago — whom authorities didn’t name during a news conference Monday but who is identified in court documents — will be tried on the charges as an adult, according to Forsyth County authorities.

The arrest comes three months after two teenage shooters opened fire outside the center on May 18, killing three people: security guard Amin Abdullah, shopkeeper Mansour Kaziha and community member Nadir Awad. The suspects — later identified as Caleb Vasquez, 18, and Cain Clark, 17 — were both found dead at the scene with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Investigators said the teens had met online and connected over a “broad hatred” toward different religions and races. They planned to target other locations after the mosque, authorities said, like a local temple and a high school.

According to the indictment, Santiago aided and abetted in the mosque shooting by “agreeing and planning” prior to the attack, livestreaming the shooting, disseminating the recording online and releasing the shooters’ manifesto “purporting to justify the attack.”

Santiago also allegedly purchased and sent Vasquez a patch depicting a neo-Nazi symbol for him to wear on the day of the attacks, which Vasquez did ultimately wear, the indictment states.

“A person may be an aider or abettor if he or she shares the same criminal intent of the perpetrator, and if, during the commission of the crime, he or she is in a position to render any aid necessary,” Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill said Monday, quoting N.C. law.

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“So she didn’t have to be in California,” he continued. “She’s in our jurisdiction, and today the grand jury indicted her and held her responsible for her actions leading up to that disastrous day in May from California.”

O’Neill said authorities had been aware that three people watched the livestream at the time of the shooting, including one female viewer. But all officials knew of her was that she was living in the Eastern Time Zone, O’Neill said.

But after authorities traced her back to North Carolina, officials met last week to weigh whether they had probable cause for an immediate arrest.

“The thought of her going back to school, or with the weekend approaching and Holy Days approaching, we didn’t know what she was capable of,” O’Neill said. “But at that point, agents with the FBI and local law enforcement clearly had enough probable cause to charge with her actions and responsibilities in this crime that occurred across the country. It was frankly too great a risk to wait for a grand jury to decide.”

O’Neill said the shooting was the product of a “subculture of hate,” with individuals radicalizing each other to carry out crimes. But in a plea to parents, O’Neill urged families to be alert to what teens are engaging with online.

“Really, you have to know what your kids are doing, who they’re talking to, what they’re getting into,” he said. “The purpose of this livestream that day was to memorialize the two terrorists. There are platforms out there that play this kind of garbage that our own family members can access.”

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Virginia Bridges contributed to this report.

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