Mosque shooting suspect went missing from mental facility, suit claims

An 18-year-old accused of opening fire at a San Diego mosque in May, leaving three people dead, "escaped" from the mental health institution where he was being treated the night before the attack, according to a lawsuit filed Aug. 31 in San Diego Superior Court by the teenager's parents.

The lawsuit, which seeks damages for negligent care of Caleb Vazquez, also claims staff at the facility, Park Mental Health Treatment Center of San Diego, were warned by the FBI a few days before the attack that Vazquez had been communicating with people on the dark web about school shootings and suicide.

The lawsuit, first reported by the Times of San Diego, contains previously unreported details about the shooting and the events leading up to it.

On the morning of May 18, the lawsuit alleges, a staff member at the mental health facility texted Vazquez’s mother asking if she knew where he was.

"Are you saying that he’s missing?" Vazquez’s mother, Liliana Vazquez, responded. "Yes," came the reply.

Caleb Vazquez’s parents immediately rushed to the facility where they had admitted their son in April because he was suffering from "Autism, OCD, Body dismorphia [sic], social anxiety and severe depression with psychotic…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/