By Gene Johnson
Contributing Writer
WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina — A 17-year-old girl who broadcast a livestream of a shooting that killed three people at a San Diego mosque – and who reportedly agreed to distribute video of a mass shooting of Black students at a high school — has been charged with murder by aiding and abetting.
Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill said at a news conference that the girl, identified in court records as Sarah L. Santiago, was indicted this week on three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy.
Under North Carolina law, the aiding-and-abetting charges carry the same penalties as if the girl had committed the attack herself, O’Neill said. She is charged as an adult and was being held without bond.
Santiago’s attorney, Alan Doorasamy Sr., said he had not received evidence from law enforcement and did not elaborate on any connection between Santiago and the attackers. But he did deny Santiago’s involvement, saying only: “At this time, I can confirm that my client is innocent of all these charges.”
According to the indictment, Santiago agreed to — and ultimately did — record the livestream as the gunmen filmed it, distribute the recording, and publish the attackers’ white-supremacist writings. She’s also accused of purchasing a patch bearing a white-supremacist symbol and sending it to one of the gunmen to wear during the attack.
The indictment did not specify which platforms carried the livestream.
Officials said Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, stormed the Islamic Center on May 18 before being driven back outside by a security guard who exchanged gunfire with them as he initiated a lockdown, helping to protect 140 children who were just steps away.
Clark and Vazquez killed the guard, Amin Abdullah, and two other men before taking their own lives in a vehicle nearby.
The pair also planned subsequent attacks on two other targets: a Jewish temple and Black students at a high school, authorities said. O’Neill credited the guard and other victims at the mosque with having saved countless lives.
They left behind rambling writings full of vitriol against a wide range of people and cited the shooter who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, as one of the models for their violence.
The writings cited a range of far-right ideologies — including the notion that white people are being replaced by other populations — and included hateful rhetoric toward Black people, Jewish people, Muslims and Islam, women, and the LGBT community, officials said.
They indicated they were trying to accelerate the collapse of society. Vazquez wrote of having “some mental health issues” and being rejected by women.
In a written statement, the Vazquez family said Caleb Vazquez was on the autism spectrum and had grown to resent parts of his identity. The family said they believed that, combined with exposure to hateful rhetoric online, contributed to his radicalization.
Tazheen Nizam, executive director of the San Diego office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, said it is essential to hold everyone involved in such attacks accountable.
“We as a community need to invest in dismantling anti-Muslim hate,” Nizam said.
Santiago’s arrest came just days before classes were to begin for the new school year, O’Neill said.
“The thought of her going back to school … we didn’t know what she was capable of,” he said.
Gene Johnson writes for the Associated Press. Associated Press writers John Raby, Jeffrey Collins and Julie Watson also contributed to this report.
CAPTION
A presenter speaks at the Islamic Center of San Diego, a mosque that was the target of a mass shooting earlier this year. A high school teenager accused of broadcast a livestream of the shooting — in which three people died — has been charged with murder by aiding and abetting murder. (Courtesy photo)
