The parents of one of the shooters involved in the deadly San Diego Islamic Center killings have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the mental health organization that had been treating their 18-year-old son, Caleb Vazquez.
The lawsuit, filed Monday by Vazquez’s mother, Lilliana, and father, Marco, alleges Park Mental Health failed to properly care for and supervise Vazquez before the shooting four months ago.
According to the lawsuit, Vazquez was a patient at Park Mental Health on El Cajon Boulevard and was being treated for autism, social anxiety and severe depression with psychotic episodes.
The court filing says Vazquez was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital in January 2025 after expressing a desire to engage in a school shooting.
Four days before the Islamic Center shooting, the FBI told Vazquez’s parents that their son was using the “dark web” and communicating with people who were talking about school shootings, according to the court filing. The filing indicates Vazquez’s mother told his therapist about the FBI warning.
Vazquez lived at an adult housing facility a few blocks from Park Mental Health. An attorney for the organization, Chris Saldana, told NBC San Diego that the facility was voluntary and rejected the assertion that Park Mental Health was responsible for Vazquez’s movements.
“The facility has no responsibility for clients coming and going. It is completely voluntary,” Saldana said.
“Caleb was at a house not represented as a secure facility. There was no court ordered confinement,” Saldana said.
According to the lawsuit, Vazquez’s parents went to see him at the 33rd Street facility about three hours before the shooting. The house manager showed them video from the previous night in which Vazquez was pacing the floor while on the phone, the lawsuit says. Vazquez eventually left around 8:30 a.m. and did not return.
His parents searched for him throughout the morning and even tried to file a missing person’s report, according to the lawsuit.
During that time, police say Vazquez and 17-year-old Cain Clark shot and killed three people at the Islamic Center. Clark then killed Vazquez and himself, according to police.
Saldana disputed allegations contained in the lawsuit.
“The lawsuit makes many incorrect factual assertions,” Saldana said.
Park Mental Health has not yet provided a legal response to the lawsuit and has a month to file a response.
The lawsuit comes as the Islamic Center shooting has returned to the headlines. A North Carolina teenager, Sarah Santiago, was indicted in connection with the case and charged with murder for allegedly streaming the ambush killings online and posting the gunmen’s manifesto.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.