A 17-year-old North Carolina girl has been charged with three counts of murder and a count of felony conspiracy for her alleged role in aiding the two local teens who fired upon the Islamic Center of San Diego in May, killing three men.
A Forsyth County grand jury indicted Sarah Lindsay Santiago, the county’s district attorney, Jim O’Neill, announced Monday. O’Neill said that Santiago worked with the shooters, agreeing to livestream the act, publicize it and publish their manifesto afterward.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl called the arrest “a meaningful step toward justice for the three irreplaceable lives that were lost that day.”
The indictment describes the manner in which she allegedly aided and abetted shooters Caleb Vazquez and Cain Clark, saying she exhibited “malice” and forethought.
The gunmen took their own lives following the May 18 shooting.
“Today’s indictment sends a clear message: Physical distance from an attack does not place someone beyond accountability for the role they allegedly played in making it happen,” said Mark Remily, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office. “(This case) should serve as a warning that supporting an attack from afar can still carry serious consequences.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis also noted that Santiago had multiple opportunities to alert the authorities and prevent the deadly attack.
“When someone has credible knowledge that a crime is going to be planned or going to be committed, particularly an act of violence, the law requires you to come forward,” Davis said. “The failure to do so must have consequences.”
Law enforcement arrested Santiago, a resident of Winston-Salem, on Aug. 27, days before Monday’s grand jury indictment, because they “didn’t know what she was capable of,” O’Neill said.
Clark and Vazquez met and were radicalized online before ever meeting in person, authorities said in May. At the Islamic Center, in Clairemont Mesa, they killed Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad, three men credited with stopping the shooters from hurting children attending school inside the complex.
The pair fled the scene, shot at a landscaper, and then shot themselves in their car blocks away from the mosque. The car was scrawled with hateful messages that echoed the white supremacist screeds in the manifesto Santiago is alleged to have posted on their behalf.
Ahead of the attack, according to the indictment, Santiago purchased a Sonnenrad patch, also known as a Black Sun patch. They feature a German pagan symbol, one that the Nazis used to represent a mystic energy source renewing the Aryan race. It is popular in neo-Nazi, white nationalist and far-right groups today.
Santiago allegedly mailed it to Vazquez. He wore a Black Sun patch during the shooting.
In addition, since Santiago faces terrorism-related charges, she will be tried as an adult.
“This case demonstrates that law enforcement will aggressively investigate those connections and pursue accountability wherever the evidence leads, including when juveniles are involved,” FBI Agent in Charge Remily said.
Multiple agencies took part in the investigation into Santiago, which is still active, including the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego, multiple FBI field offices, San Diego police detectives and the Winston-Salem Police Department, with assistance from the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.
Chief Wahl said alongside the FBI, local detectives will leave “no stone unturned” in the investigation into the mosque shooting. Officials have conducted over 100 interviews, executed 30 search warrants, and reviewed 4 million messages during the investigation, according to Remily.
“We stand committed to exhausting every lead to hold anyone who may have played a role in the shooting accountable,” Wahl said.
Santiago is being held without bail. Her next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 21.
