Mother’s calls delayed response as San Diego shooters fired

mother’s calls – In the two hours before a Monday mass shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the mother of one of the attackers made multiple calls to police—first describing a “runaway juvenile” classified as Priority 2, then escalating the incident after providing mor

SAN DIEGO — The first call came in at 9:42 a.m., but it wasn’t until 11:10 a.m. that police arrived at the home of the mother of a 17-year-old suspect who would later be identified as Cain Lee Clark.

In the tense stretch between those times. police were trying to understand what they were dealing with as the department struggled with short staffing and long response delays. The mother called at least two more times before officers showed up. with concern rising in later calls. according to law enforcement sources with access to call logs.

Her initial report was treated as a “runaway juvenile,” classified as a “Priority 2.” Police did not arrive to speak with her until 11:10 a.m., more than an hour after the first call. During that window, the subsequent calls were enough for police to elevate the incident, the sources said.

Exactly what the mother told police in the first call was not clear. But officers later received upgraded information: her later calls provided more details about her son. prompting police to move the case to a Priority 1 call. according to the same sources. A terrorism liaison officer was brought into the case at 10:54 a.m. and a patrol car with two officers was sent to her home. Those officers arrived at 11:10 a.m.

By then, law enforcement steps meant to track the threat were already underway. Officials at Clark’s school were alerted. and data from license plate readers was being scanned for any sign of the vehicle. Police received two hits for the license plate—both prior to the shooting. including one at the Fashion Valley mall about six miles from Clark’s home. The car was not there by the time an officer arrived.

Dispatch audio reviewed from San Diego police showed what crews in the field were being told as the threat expanded. At approximately 11:05 a.m. dispatchers told officers to be on the lookout for a “possible terroristic threat.” The dispatcher reported that a 17-year-old boy named Cain Clark left at 6:30 a.m. from his parents’ house with another teen, taking a shotgun and additional guns from his parents’ gun safe. The dispatcher also relayed a note allegedly written on a computer: “I’m too far gone and this is going to happen anyways. ” according to the dispatch recording.

The teen left in a white BMW X1 and turned his location off on his phone, the recording said. Clark was described as wearing a camo baseball cap, a camo jacket, black pants and black boots. The second suspect was described as wearing an army green baseball cap. a camo jacket and army green camo cargo pants.

The first reports of an active shooting at the Islamic center reached police at 11:42 a.m., while officers were still interviewing Clark’s mother.

Clark and his co-defendant, Caleb Liam Vazquez, 18, drove to the mosque with a plan for mass murder. They were briefly repelled by a security guard. who—along with two other victims in the parking lot—alerted the center and police to the attack. helping save lives. The attackers were later found dead with self-inflicted wounds.

San Diego police declined to add details to the timeline, saying investigators were still sorting it out. In a statement to The Times. the department said: “With such an in-depth investigation. we want to ensure that the information shared remains credible. We are working on our next update that you can expect in the coming days. Thank you for your patience and understanding.” The department added. “As you can imagine. there are a lot of details we are working to sort through right now.”.

Staffing and response time have been a recurring political and public safety issue in San Diego, and the reporting around Monday’s attack has sharpened attention on how long it can take for officers to arrive when calls are first treated as lower priority.

City data released in response to a public records request showed that the department’s average response time for a Priority 2 call was more than two hours as recently as March. San Diego Police Department staffing shortages have been an issue earlier this month amid budget talks.

Jared Wilson. president of the San Diego Police Officers Assn. said in an emailed statement to The Times that his organization has been raising alarms about staffing shortages. cuts to overtime and response times. Wilson declined to discuss specifics about staffing or specifics about Monday’s attack. referring questions to the San Diego Police Department spokesperson.

“Our patrol staffing levels are at historically low levels, which have skyrocketed response times to all-time highs,” Wilson wrote. “It is not uncommon for staffing levels to be 50% or worse under long-established minimum levels. In addition to the detrimental effects of high response times for the community. our officers are being placed in dangerous situations with little backup and are burning out.”.

Wilson said the department currently has 200 vacant positions, plus an additional 100 officers in training or at the academy and unavailable for service.

Police department brass has acknowledged it is often below recommended staffing levels. citing a personnel shortage affecting large agencies across the country. The two sources said the department’s northern division—where the mass shooting occurred—had seven officers assigned to work that area at the time. which was less than the department’s minimum staffing standard of 14 officers for that division. Once the incident was elevated to Priority 1, other officers were brought in.

In the 2027 draft budget released by the city this month. the Police Department’s top two priorities were recruiting and retaining employees and improving response times. But for years the city has faced a budget deficit, leading to spending cuts for the Police Department. The budget for fiscal year 2027 focused on cutting management positions such as sergeants and lieutenants in an effort to “keep cops in the field. ” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said during an interview with CBS 8 San Diego earlier this month.

Wahl said the department is “a couple hundred” officers short of its budget, but also added that it is “a thousand police officers short of what we need to handle the call volume we have.”

Over the last few days. officials said their understanding of the threat posed by the teens evolved based on information from the mother. who has not responded to requests for comment. Wahl. during multiple press briefings. said law enforcement’s grasp of the unfolding threat “elevated as Mom began to piece together what she was finding.” Wahl also said officials have not discussed publicly that the mother made multiple calls to police or how long it took for officers to respond to the home.

The questions now sit in the space between those two times—9:42 a.m. and 11:10 a.m.—when police were still trying to assess seriousness, then scrambling to respond as the case escalated.

San Diego Islamic Center of San Diego Cain Lee Clark Caleb Liam Vazquez police response times dispatch audio staffing shortages terrorism liaison officer Priority 1 Priority 2