A 17-year-old North Carolina girl faces serious charges related to a deadly attack on an Islamic center in California. Sarah Santiago is charged as an adult with three counts of murder by aiding and abetting, plus conspiracy charges. Authorities allege she assisted two California teenagers, Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez, in planning and executing the assault.
According to prosecutors, Santiago allegedly agreed to record and distribute a livestream of the attack and spread the assailants’ white-supremacist writings online. She is also accused of purchasing a patch bearing a white-supremacist symbol and mailing it to one of the gunmen to wear during the assault. The attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego resulted in the deaths of three people, after which the two shooters took their own lives.
Santiago’s attorney, Alan Doorasamy, contends that prosecutors have not supplied adequate information to mount an effective defense. Specifically, he states that prosecutors have failed to detail how or when Santiago allegedly communicated with the shooters, or to clarify the specifics of the purported agreement regarding the livestream and dissemination of materials. Doorasamy filed a formal request for additional details on Friday, with a hearing scheduled for Wednesday to address the motion. He emphasized that his client, though frightened, has committed no wrongdoing.
Santiago was arrested late last month and is being held without bail. Under North Carolina law, aiding-and-abetting convictions carry penalties equivalent to those for committing the underlying crime. The two gunmen, ages 17 and 18, had also allegedly planned subsequent attacks on a Jewish temple and a high school. A security guard at the mosque exchanged gunfire with the attackers, helping to protect approximately 140 children in the facility.
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