Parents of San Diego mosque gunman say a mental health facility failed to heed FBI warning

Days before the San Diego mosque shooting, FBI officials allegedly warned Caleb Vazquez’s parents that their son had been making concerning comments about school shootings on the dark web. His mother says she passed the warning to the mental health facility treating him, but the facility failed to intervene.

The allegations appear in a lawsuit filed in a San Diego court on Aug. 31. Vazquez, 18, was living at Park Mental Health Treatment of San Diego and receiving care for depression, psychotic episodes and other mental health conditions, the lawsuit says.

According to the filing, the FBI called Vazquez’s mother on the evening of May 14. She immediately left a message for the facility. On May 15, she repeated the warning to her son’s therapist and later to a program director.

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While it is understandable that his parents might seek to blame someone in their time of loss, this lawsuit is misguided in that neither Park nor its employees are responsible for Mr. Vazquez’s actions.

On the morning of May 18, facility employees told Vazquez’s mother that he was missing. Surveillance footage later showed him leaving the property at 8 p.m. the previous night. His parents searched for him that morning. Vazquez and another teenager then killed three people at the mosque before taking their own lives.

The lawsuit does not establish whether Vazquez had permission to leave or violated facility rules. Park Mental Health advertises services ranging from 24-hour surveillance to more limited counseling, depending on the program. The facility said the lawsuit was misguided, stating, "While it is understandable that his parents might seek to blame someone in their time of loss, this lawsuit is misguided in that neither Park nor its employees are responsible for Mr. Vazquez’s actions." It added, "Only he and his coconspirator bear responsibility for their conduct and, ultimately, his death."

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Only he and his coconspirator bear responsibility for their conduct and, ultimately, his death.