Muslim leaders meet in Baltimore, demand FBI investigate missed red flags in hate crime mosque attack

Muslim leaders from across America gathered in Baltimore for the Islamic Circle of America conference, and they condemned the Islamophobic hate they believe fueled a deadly attack on a mosque in California last week.

According to authorities, the two teenagers behind the violence stockpiled dozens of guns and live-streamed the shooting.

The president and vice president have denounced the violence, but leaders said they should go further. 

They also called on the FBI to fully investigate how the teenage suspects were radicalized and whether any red flags were missed. 

Calling for change 

Security was tight at the Baltimore Convention Center on Memorial Day, and hearts were still heavy over the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, a mosque and school, just seven days earlier. 

"We stand here today with armed security all around us as we speak for the simple fact that we are Muslims, and we are here to say, 'Enough!'" said Lana Safah, a national board member of the Muslim American Society. "…We are Americans. We are Muslims, and the two do not conflict."

The attack in San Diego has alarmed community advocates, as have revelations about the alleged shooters, 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Vazquez.

Clark shot Vazquez and then himself, police said. 

"This was a mosque. This should never have happened in the first place," Safah told WJZ. 

Radicalized online 

According to CBS News, the alleged shooters became radicalized and met online. The pair obtained 30 guns and a crossbow from one of their parents. 

They wore Nazi insignias and wrote a "manifesto."

CBS News reports the document opens with an antisemitic diatribe, repeating the phrase, "IT'S THE JEWS." It also calls for a violent race war and references "accelerationism," one of the most violent forms of white supremacist ideology that advocates the destruction of society.

The U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations demanded that the FBI conduct a thorough investigation.

"While the attackers took their own lives and will not face earthly justice or trial, the full truth of this attack must still be pursued and made public. Justice for our community does not end with the death of the perpetrators," said Oussama Jammal, the Secretary General of the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations. "Their histories, associations, prior conduct, and any threat assessments that may have been made or overlooked—if warning signs existed and were not acted upon—the American people and the families deserve to know."

At an unrelated news conference last week, President Donald Trump called the shooting a "terrible situation." 

Vice President J.D. Vance also spoke out against the violence last week. 

"I don't know a single person who would say anything other than what I'm about to say, which is that that type of violence in the United States of America is reprehensible, and I encourage every single American to pray for everybody who was involved and affected by it," Vance said. 

But Muslim leaders told CBS News Baltimore that the Trump administration must do more to combat Islamophobia.

"We are asking and waiting for The White House to come up with a clear, unequivocal condemnation of not only this terrorist act, but of the anti-Muslim bigotry that has been rampant in society," said Nihad Awad, the National Executive Director and co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the United States.

The leaders also honored the lives lost, including Amin Abdullah, a security guard and father of eight who likely saved dozens of children.

"He engaged the attackers and immediately called on school officials to lock down to protect the children and the staff," Awad said. 

Community advocates said tragic events like what happened in California should not stop the community from worshipping freely. 

"No child should have to fear going to school. No believer should have to fear going to their place of worship," Safah said. "No one should have to go to work one day wondering if they're going to come home or not because a bigoted person decided that was the day to end their life."

Leaders at the Islamic Circle of America conference called the California shooting an act of domestic terrorism. 

"These two attackers, they called them teenagers. Some people started to comment that they have some mental issues," CAIR's Awad said. "We do not know what kind of state of mind they had, but we knew that they targeted the Islamic community, and they were about to kill hundreds of people."

Vazquez's family released a statement on Thursday to CBS News saying, in part, "We stand firmly against the ideology and actions that led to this tragedy. These actions do not reflect the values we raised our family with or the beliefs we hold in our hearts."

Maryland hate crimes 

In Maryland, the attorney general tracks hate crimes and has received more than 200 reports each year in 2024 and 2025.

At least 47 of those complaints involved religious hatred. You can read the 2025 report here.