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Good morning, San Diego ☀️
Here’s what we have for you today:
- County supervisors approved a $5.8 million plan to address Tijuana River sewage through the construction of new sewage treatment system and replacing failing box culverts under a “hot spot.”
Tessa Balc
Audience engagement producer
Top story
Exclusive: One of the Islamic Center shooters went missing from a Normal Heights mental treatment facility the night before the attack
Yesterday the parents of Caleb Vazquez — one of the suspected gunman who shot and killed three people at the San Diego Islamic Center on May 18 — filed a lawsuit against the treatment facility their son lived at, and went missing from the night before the attack.
We got our hands on the lawsuit and dug into what it alleges about what happened prior to the shooting.
According to the lawsuit, days before the shooting the FBI contacted Vazquez’s mother, Lilliana, about her son’s concerning activity on the “dark web.” She contacted his therapist on May 15, and officials at Park Mental Health, where he was undergoing treatment, became aware of the FBI’s concerns.
At the time of the attack, Vazquez was living at a Park Mental Health residential facility in Normal Heights and being treated for an array of mental illnesses at the company’s North Park headquarters.
Fast forward to the morning of May 18, the day of the attack, when Vazquez and her husband, Marco, are sent a message from the treatment facility’s program director, asking if they knew where their son was. He was missing.
They drove to the Normal Heights facility, and found out there that he had left the night before. After driving around in search of him, they went to Park Mental Health’s North Park headquarters. They allege in the lawsuit that they were not given answers as to why they were not notified of his disappearance until the next day.
Minutes between when the lawsuit says they left the North Park facility without answers, San Diego police received their first call for an active shooting across town.
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Stories you should know about
🚙 Amazon’s Zoox test fleet coming to San Diego, raising robotaxi stakes just as Waymo goes live locally: The company run by Amazon said their driverless cars will be mapping San Diego streets by the end of the month.
🎺 This week in live music, from punk rock to latin jazz: The Dead Kennedys play the Observatory, the Pacific Soul Jazz Fest is hosted at the Epstein Family Theatre, Sol Sacrifice is at Winston’s and the Charlatans UK play the House of Blues.
💰San Diego State football aims high, seeking a title to begin Pac-12 era: The Aztecs will kick off their 2026 season, facing off against Portland State on Saturday at home in their first game as part of the PAC-12 which comprises eight football-playing members now.
What else we’re reading
🚻 City council voted to repeal an ordinance that heavily regulated bathhouses with the stated intent to stop gay and bisexual men from spreading HIV/AIDS. The repeal was largely symbolic as the city does not enforce the code. (KPBS)
📸 Oceanside is looking to make its Drone as First Responder pilot program permanent, which would be capable of sending out a drone to track people in order to arrest them after committing a crime. Privacy rights groups are not happy about this. (KPBS)
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Mid-Week News Quiz
Have you kept up with Times of San Diego this week? Let’s see!
🚙 Waymo has officially launched in San Diego. Which U.S. city was the first to welcome the driverless taxi service?
A) San Francisco
B) Tampa
C) Atlanta
D) Phoenix
Reply first with the correct answer to earn a shoutout in tomorrow’s newsletter.