North Carolina Teen Indicted for Murder Over Livestream of San Diego Mosque Attack That Killed 3

A Winston-Salem high school student is facing three counts of first-degree murder for a mass shooting she never physically attended, 2,400 miles from her home.

Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill announced Monday, August 31, that a grand jury indicted Sarah Lindsey Santiago, 17, on three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The charges stem from the May 18 attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, where two teenage gunmen killed three men before taking their own lives.

O'Neill said Santiago agreed, before the attack, to livestream it, publicly distribute the footage, and release the gunmen's manifesto. She allegedly followed through on all three, according to the indictment cited by CNN. She's also accused of buying and mailing one of the shooters a Sonnenrad patch, a symbol associated with neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, which he wore during the shooting.

The law behind the charge

North Carolina's aiding-and-abetting statute treats a person who knowingly helps facilitate a crime the same as the person who commits it, even without pulling a trigger. O'Neill leaned on that language directly: "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."

Santiago wasn't in California. She's accused of dissemination, communication with the shooters, and advance knowledge, not planning the tactical details of the attack itself. Prosecutors say she shared the shooters' criminal intent and was in a position to render aid to the plot, according to the Los Angeles Times. Whether that legal theory holds up will be decided in court.

What investigators found

Shooters Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, stormed the mosque in San Diego's Clairemont neighborhood before security guard Amin Abdullah, a father of eight, exchanged gunfire and drove them back outside, according to CBS News and NBC San Diego. That delay helped protect 140 children sheltering in place at the attached school. Abdullah, mosque caretaker Mansour Kaziha, and neighbor Nadir Awad were killed. Clark and Vazquez died by suicide in a car nearby.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis said the investigation involved more than 100 interviews, 30 search warrants, and a review of more than 4 million messages. Authorities say Santiago communicated with the shooters over Signal and was radicalized in the same online networks. The gunmen's manifesto, reviewed by CBS News, contained antisemitic material, calls for race war, references to "accelerationism," and praise for the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooter who killed 51 people.

The indictment also alleges the gunmen planned follow-up attacks that day at Kehilat Ariel Messianic Synagogue, roughly 1.5 miles from the mosque, and at a predominantly Black high school. Neither attack happened because the shooters killed themselves first.

The arrest timing

Santiago was arrested about a week before Monday's indictment, just before she was set to start the school year. O'Neill said authorities moved quickly because they "didn't know what she was capable of" with the school year and religious holidays approaching. She'll be tried as an adult, which O'Neill and NBC San Diego attributed to the terrorism-related nature of the charges.

Her side

Santiago's attorney, Alan Doorasamy, told CNN he can't comment on evidence because prosecutors haven't turned over discovery yet. He was direct about his client's position: "At this time I can confirm that my client is innocent of all these charges." Santiago is still a minor, and no trial date has been set.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office, which has jurisdiction over the underlying killings, said in a statement it is "fully aware" of the Forsyth County prosecution and is grateful for O'Neill's work, but it has not announced separate charges of its own.

What's unresolved

The central legal question is whether North Carolina prosecutors can make a murder charge stick against someone who never traveled to the crime scene, based on an aiding-and-abetting theory tied to livestreaming and manifesto distribution rather than direct participation in the shooting. Santiago's defense will get access to the full evidence file, including the 4 million reviewed messages, before any plea is entered. Her next court appearance has not yet been publicly scheduled.