How to – Authorities say two teenage suspects in the Monday attack on the Islamic Center in San Diego were engaging with far-right extremist content online. As investigators examine motive and a hate-filled 75-page manifesto, experts warn that social media can fuel ide
On Monday, three people were killed when two teenage suspects attacked the Islamic Center in San Diego—before turning the guns on themselves. Investigators are still working to determine the motive for the attack, which is being investigated as a hate crime.
But investigators say the teens’ digital trail points elsewhere. Authorities say the suspects were engaging with far-right extremist content on social media. The gunmen left behind a 75-page manifesto that preached hate, anti-Islam ideology, antisemitism and promoted violence. The Times also identified social media accounts. believed to be used by one of the shooters. that contained content idolizing school shootings. white nationalism and neo-Nazi terrorism and memes from the online far-right community.
The attack has landed in a country already wrestling with how extremist content travels—fast. targeted. and often hidden behind private screens. Psychologists and psychiatrists say kids. in their formative years. could easily see extremist content online and. in some cases. possibly connect with extremist groups in search of social belonging.
Anne Speckhard, director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, has studied terrorists for the last 20 years. Historically. it was thought that homegrown terrorists couldn’t be recruited online. but Speckhard said. “that’s not true anymore because the [internet] is so personal.” She added that “anyone from another part of the world or even another state could spend time grooming someone else over the internet or through social media.”.
Morteza Dehghani, a professor of psychology and computer science at USC, said radicalization used to require tight-knit, face-to-face groups like a local gang or fringe clubs. “But today social media algorithms actually simulate the exact environment at a massive scale,” he said.
In practice, experts say, it can look ordinary until it doesn’t. A child can take their phone or computer into their room and spend hours with a recruiter or pre-made content online.
How extremist ideas shift from “content” to commitment—especially for teens—may be less mysterious than it sounds, Dehghani argues. When a child or teenager feels intense moral alignment with an online group. it triggers a concept called identity fusion: a deep visceral sense of oneness where the boundary between the personal self and the group blurs. Dehghani said. “Our experimental data actually shows that this fusion is the primary driver that increases a person’s willingness to engage in radical behavior. and even fight or die for a group’s cause.”.
Speckhard described a second pathway that can run alongside identity fusion: belonging. She said she interviewed 55 white supremacists and antigovernment militias for her book “Homegrown Hate: Inside the Minds of Domestic Violent Extremists.” In one interview. one man told Speckhard he had gone to a KKK cross burning and knew that’s where he belonged “because they came around him and gave him a sense of belonging and significance.”.
Speckhard said. “Everybody has a need for significance and belonging and purpose in their life. ” adding that “many of us are not getting it in our lives.” When that need isn’t met. she said. young people can turn to the internet and fall down rabbit holes. “If there is extremist content, the algorithm will just feed you more and more and more,” she said.
For parents, the challenge is distinguishing harmful radicalization from ordinary adolescent change. Dehghani said teen years are spent discovering who a person is. There is normal teenage rebellion. and there is radicalization. and “sometimes it’s really hard to distinguish between the two.” What parents can look for. he said. are shifts in the boundary between themselves and the group a child is beginning to align with—especially a sudden. visceral connection to a different group. and a change in identity or morality.
Another red flag. Dehghani said. is cult-like attachment: when a child starts defending. talking about. or favoring an online group with an intensity that seems to come from more than interest. In a more extreme example. the teen may start using “purity-related language. ” which Dehghani described as words tied to physical or spiritual disgust. cleansing corruption. or viewing groups of people in degrading ways.
“This is a warning sign that they are not only generating extremist rhetoric, but [it’s happening because] they’re most probably absorbing it,” Dehghani said.
Breaking that absorption starts at home, experts say. Parents should try to break the echo chamber in which their child or teenager is receiving information. Dehghani said if a parent suddenly sees their child taking a very moralized perspective toward something such as immigration—or another social topic—it can help to expose them to the diversity of ideas that exist around that issue.
He also said parents can engage their kids in conversation about their routines online and express interest in the sites they’re visiting. In a world where the phone can turn a bedroom into a feed. experts say the most practical defense may be steady attention: noticing the shift. asking questions. and refusing to let one algorithmic worldview become the only mirror a teen sees.
San Diego Islamic Center attack hate crime investigation far-right extremist content online radicalization identity fusion child and teen online safety manifesto parents guidance