Teen Girl Charged with Murder Over Recording San Diego Mosque Attack

A 17-year-old North Carolina girl has been indicted on murder charges in connection with a deadly shooting at a San Diego mosque in May. The teenager, identified in court records as Sarah L. Santiago, faces three counts of murder by aiding and abetting, along with one count of conspiracy. She was arrested last week and subsequently indicted by a grand jury on Monday.

Prosecutors allege that Santiago recorded a livestream of the May 18 attack, which was captured via GoPro cameras worn by the gunmen, and then disseminated both the recording and the attackers' white-supremacist writings. Furthermore, she is accused of purchasing a white-supremacist symbol patch and sending it to one of the assailants to be worn during the incident. Under North Carolina law, aiding and abetting carries the same penalties as directly committing the crime.

The May 18 attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego resulted in the deaths of three men, including security guard Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha, and Nader Awad. The two primary assailants, Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, were driven back outside by the security guard before ultimately taking their own lives in a nearby vehicle. The attackers left behind extensive writings filled with hateful rhetoric.