A 17‑year‑old North Carolina teen has been charged with murder by aiding and abetting after prosecutors say she recorded a livestream of the May 18 attack on San Diego’s Islamic Center that killed three people. The teenager, arrested last week and indicted by a grand jury on Monday, faces three murder charges and a count of conspiracy, the district attorney’s office confirmed.
The attack was carried out by a pair of male teenagers – aged 17 and 18 – who opened fire inside the mosque before taking their own lives. Authorities say they used a set of GoPro‑style helmet cameras to record the assault, livestream it, and spread the content online, sparking a wave of far‑right rhetoric. The teens also left written notes praising the Christchurch Mosque shootings of 2019 and other extremist acts.
Prosecutors said the accused teen not only filmed the shooting but also published the manifesto from the attackers. The document advocated for further violence – targeting a local Jewish temple and an African‑American high school – and displayed overt racist and antisemitic language.
The incident prompted a heroic response from security guard Amin Abdullah, who fought off the attackers and initiated a lockdown that protected about 140 children inside the mosque. Abdullah, along with worshippers Mansour Kaziha and Nader Awad, was killed in the shooting. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl called Abdullah’s actions “heroic” and said his sacrifice saved many lives.
The Law in North Carolina permits those who aid and abet a crime to be criminally responsible to the same degree as the principal offender. District Attorney Jim O’Neill told reporters, “The thought of her going back to school, with the weekend approaching, holy days approaching – we didn’t know what she was capable of.”
Security footage and police investigations revealed that the gunmen possessed a cache of around 30 firearms and a crossbow, reportedly taken from a parent’s home. The weapons were used in the mosque and later in the weapons review was conducted by investigators.
The case is part of a broader trend of extremist violence in the United States, with domestic and foreign‑based ideologies driving attacks on religious and minority communities. Authorities now plan to press the charges, hoping to send a warning against the propaganda that fueled this heinous attack.
