A North Carolina grand jury on Monday indicted a 17-year-old girl on suspicion of aiding and abetting a May 18 shooting that left three people dead at a San Diego mosque by recording and disseminating a live video of the attack.
According to Reuters, Forsyth County Prosecutor Jim O'Neill said in a press conference that the authorities decided to file charges at the state level, because the girl could be tried as an adult in North Carolina. The girl faces a possible sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted in North Carolina, while the federal charges could result in a sentence of three or four years in prison.
The three men killed in the attack were credited with preventing further violence, at a time when 140 children were in the mosque's school. The victims, security guard Amin Abdullah (51 years old), the mosque’s caretaker Mansour Kaziha (78 years old), and Nader Awad (57 years old), the husband of a teacher at the Islamic Center in San Diego, were praised as heroes in a memorial ceremony.
The attackers, Caleb Vasquez (18 years old) and Kane Clark (17 years old), killed themselves inside their vehicle after fleeing the attack site. Investigators say they also intended to attack a synagogue and a high school whose students were mostly African-American.
Sarah Linzi Santiago was arrested last week. The indictment issued Monday charges her with three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy.
O'Neill said a person could be guilty of aiding and abetting if he or she shares the same criminal intent as the offender and does not assist during the commission of the crime, even if he or she is not present in person.
O'Neill's office said in a press release that before the attack, Santiago agreed to broadcast it live and make the recording public, and then published the statement prepared by the two attackers to justify the attack.
O'Neill described the suspects as part of a "secret subculture" that drives people to extremes to commit horrific crimes.
“It is an environment that only fuels intense hatred towards different cultures and religions,” O’Neill said. “It seems that Cain and Vasquez, according to what was stated in their statement, hate everyone regardless of skin color, politics, religion or race, and this secret subculture of hatred, its members listen to each other and talk to each other through encrypted platforms.”
O'Neill said investigators determined that three people watched the live broadcast of the attack. He added that at first they only knew that one of them was a woman in the Eastern Time Zone, but they were later able to identify her as Santiago. He refused to say whether the identity of the other two people had also been identified or whether they would also face charges.
The White House said on Monday that US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will step down from his position after 18 months in charge, in the latest departure of a senior military official in the administration of President Donald Trump.
The White House did not give any reason for the departure of Driscoll, who has a friendship with Vice President J.D. Vance, but reports widely spoke of tensions between him and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
His departure comes as part of a series of changes that affected the senior military leadership, with the US Army exposed to major turmoil, according to what the Associated Press reported.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement: “Secretary Driscoll was very effective in advancing President Trump’s Make America Strong Again agenda within the Department of the Army, by providing outstanding leadership during historic military operations, refocusing on readiness and combat capability, assisting in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and more.”
She added: “The American army has become stronger than ever thanks to its work alongside the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and the Minister of War.”
Hegseth abruptly ousted the Army's highest-ranking uniformed commander, General Randy George, in April, while the commander of the US Army in Europe and Africa, General Christopher Donahue, abruptly stepped down in June.
Driscoll, who was confirmed by the Senate to the military's top job in February 2025, pushed the army to be more flexible in purchasing less expensive weapons, and rebuked major arms manufacturers.
“The defense industrial base in general, and the major prime contractors in particular, deceived the American people, the Department of Defense, and the Army,” Driscoll said last year, referring to major defense companies.
US President Donald Trump said that he would reconsider the US position on the Falkland Islands, an archipelago under British rule in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Trump added to reporters in the Oval Office, in response to a question about sovereignty over the islands: “I always review every position. This is just one of many positions.”
It was reported that Washington threatened to challenge Britain's sovereignty over the islands unless it increased its defense spending.
Argentina, currently led by Javier Milley, a Trump ally, claims sovereignty over the islands, according to what Reuters reported.
When asked whether he wanted the government of new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham to increase its current defense spending pledges, Trump replied: “The United Kingdom has some problems, but they will be solved.”
Washington officially recognizes Britain's de facto administration of the Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls Las Malvinas, without taking sides over competing sovereignty claims.
Any potential change in the US position comes within a set of options that the US Defense Department (Pentagon) considered earlier this year to put pressure on NATO countries, who are believed to have failed to support US military operations in the war against Iran.
