Caleb Vazquez

Caleb Liam Vazquez was an 18-year-old resident of Chula Vista, California who co-perpetrated the attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18, 2026 alongside Cain Lee Clark. Three people were killed in the attack. Vazquez died in the perpetrators' vehicle when Clark shot him twice in the head at his own request. Vazquez co-authored a 75-page manifesto titled "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant" drawing from Atomwaffen Division, Terrorgram, The Base, and James Mason's Siege. In 2025, the Chula Vista Police Department had contacted Vazquez after receiving a tip about his extremist views and found his social media "littered with neo-Nazi rhetoric," but determined the situation did not meet the threshold for arrest.¹

Background and Radicalization

Vazquez described himself in his manifesto section as having been active in incel forums since 2022, making his documented online radicalization history traceable to at least four years before the attack. By the time of the shooting he had developed an explicitly Nazi worldview - his manifesto section praised Adolf Hitler as "the greatest man to ever walk this Earth" and expressed the antisemitism and Great Replacement Theory foundational to the manifesto as a whole.

In 2025, an acquaintance contacted the Chula Vista Police Department to report concerns about Vazquez's interest in "extremist ideology and mass-casualty attacks." Officers investigated and reviewed his social media, which they described as "littered with neo-Nazi rhetoric." Police determined the information they had did not satisfy the legal standard for arrest and no charges were filed. The incident represents a documented law enforcement contact that did not result in intervention, a pattern that has recurred in numerous mass violence cases.¹

Vazquez met Cain Clark online before the two discovered they lived in proximity in the San Diego area and began meeting in person.

Manifesto Content

Vazquez's section of "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant" opened with an image of a Sonnenrad with the Atomwaffen Division logo at its center. His writing praised Hitler and drew on Great Replacement Theory, antisemitism, and his incel background. The manifesto stated explicitly that the attack was carried out for Atomwaffen Division, Terrorgram, and The Base. Like Clark's section, it cited Siege and The Turner Diaries as foundational texts.

Physical evidence recovered from the attack scene and the perpetrators' vehicle included a Sonnenrad patch, an Atomwaffen Division logo on tactical equipment, an SS symbol on a fuel container, and hate speech on one of the weapons - all consistent with the visual and aesthetic language produced by Atomwaffen Division and subsequently distributed through Terrorgram channels.²³

The Attack and Death

Vazquez participated in the May 18, 2026 attack on the ICSD alongside Clark, shooting three victims outside the mosque before security guard Amin Abdullah's armed response delayed them and allowed approximately 150 school children to shelter safely. The two fled in a white BMW. According to investigators, Vazquez encouraged Clark to shoot him during their flight; Clark shot Vazquez twice in the head, then killed himself. Both were found in the vehicle approximately three-tenths of a mile from the mosque. No criminal prosecution is possible given both perpetrators' deaths.