Add The California Post on Google The parents of the 18-year-old gunman who unleashed a deadly attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego are suing his mental health facility, claiming staff ignored glaring warning signs before the bloodshed.
Caleb Vazquez, one of two teens responsible for the mass shooting, went missing from the Park Mental Health residential facility in Normal Heights the night before the deadly attack, his family claims in a new lawsuit against the facility.
The lawsuit is for negligence, dependent adult/neglect, wrongful death and medical malpractice, according to FOX 5.
The mental health treatment facility also failed to take crucial actions to stop Vazquez from engaging in “self destructive actions in a timely manner,” according to the lawsuit.
The teen was admitted to the facility in April for treatment of “autism, OCD, body dysmorphia, social anxiety and severe depression with psychotic episodes,” according to the lawsuit.
Days before the shooting, Caleb’s mother, Lilliana Vazquez, allegedly told his therapist that the FBI had contacted her May 14 over his alarming “dark web” activity, including discussions about school shootings and suicide.
On the morning of May 18, Park Mental Health’s program director texted Vazquez asking if she knew where Caleb was, before confirming he was missing, the court documents state.
When Lilliana and Marco Vazquez arrived at the facility at 9 a.m., a house manager showed them surveillance footage of Caleb pacing inside before leaving the property at 8:24 p.m. the night before.
Park Mental Health Treatment Center of San Diego called the allegations “incorrect” and “counterfactual.”
“At the end of the day, Mr. Vazquez was involved in an infamous crime at the conclusion of which he was murdered by his criminal partner. Neither Park nor any of its employees had the ability or the power to stop these heinous acts and as members of this community, we continue to mourn Mr. Vazquez’s victims,” the facility told FOX 5/KUSI in a statement.
Vazquez was on the autism spectrum and influenced by hateful rhetoric online, his family had explained in a heartfelt apology after the shooting.
Vazquez and 17-year-old Cain Clark stormed the mosque and opened fire, killing three in May before fleeing in a white BMW and killing themselves. The teen terrorists livestreamed their entire attack.
During their recorded exchange in the BMW, Vazquez urged Clark to shoot him in the head. Clark, sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle, shot Vazquez in the head twice with a pistol, killing him. The 17-year-old then turned the weapon on himself.
Vazquez and Clark had also released a manifesto, obtained by The California Post, before the shooting in which they shared hateful imagery and messages — campaigning for a race war. The weapons they used in the attack were covered in racist messages, including “Race War Now.”
Sarah Lindsey Santiago, 17, was recently charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection to the mass shooting.
Prosecutors allege she agreed before the attack to livestream the massacre, distribute the recording publicly and release the gunmen’s manifesto.
Santiago was allegedly one of three people who watched the livestream and later recorded and disseminated the footage and attackers’ writings, authorities said.
