By Mike Blake
SAN DIEGO, May 18 (Reuters) – Law enforcement officers on Monday converged on the Islamic Center of San Diego, the region’s largest mosque, to confront reports of an active shooter at the complex, and police said the situation had been “contained.”
No further official details about the circumstances of the incident or casualties were immediately available.
The local NBC television affiliate, citing police sources, reported that “multiple people are down” inside the facility, then updated its report saying two suspects were killed.
The local ABC affiliate carried an unconfirmed report that at least one person was shot dead.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria first reported around noon PDT (1900 GMT) that he had been informed of an “active shooter situation” at the Islamic center in the Clairemont community of San Diego, California’s second-most populous city.
The San Diego Police Department posted separately that its officers were on the scene “for a reported active shooter.”
Footage from local television stations showed dozens of patrol cars on a highway bridge next to the Islamic Center, with police officers and their vehicles surrounding the grounds, aiming rifles at the facility.
TV images from the scene also showed armed officers making their way through the complex.
The Islamic Center in Clairemont is the largest mosque in San Diego County and houses the Bright Horizon Academy, a school providing Islamic education, according to its website.
“Emergency personnel are on scene and actively working to protect the community and secure the area,” the mayor posted.
California Governor Gavin Newsom was briefed on the “evolving situation,” according to his office of emergency services.
(Reporting by Mike Blake in San Diego; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Rosalba O’Brien)
