North Carolina Teen Indicted on Murder Charges in San Diego Mosque Shooting
A 17-year-old North Carolina girl has been indicted on murder charges in connection with a shooting that killed three people at a San Diego mosque, authorities said Monday.
Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill announced that a grand jury indicted Sarah Santiago, 17, on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The indictment came Monday, just before she was due to begin the school year, and follows her arrest last week.
“The law in North Carolina is clear: a person may be guilty of a crime, although he or she personally does not do any of the acts necessary to constitute the crime,” O’Neill said at a news conference in Winston-Salem. Under state law, aiding-and-abetting charges carry the same penalties as if the individual had committed the attack themselves.
O’Neill described Santiago as “the person who was recording the livestream” and said she “disseminated that information and she published their manifesto.”
The charges stem from a shooting on May 18 at the Islamic Center of San Diego. According to law enforcement, Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vasquez, 18, attacked the center. A security guard exchanged gunfire with the attackers and initiated a lockdown, helping to protect 140 children who were nearby. The attackers killed three people before taking their own lives, according to law enforcement.
The attackers left behind writings that referenced the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque shootings as a model for the violence, according to reports.
CNN has sought comment from Santiago’s attorney, but no response has been reported.