Panicked parents rush to area around Islamic Center, with classrooms on-site, schools nearby
A mother holds her sleeping child outside the gates of Clairemont Canyons Academy while the school is on lockdown following a nearby shooting at San Diego's largest mosque on Monday, May 18. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)
This outlines my contribution to an article by Alejandro Maciel, Lillian Perlmutter and Drew Sitton, staff reporters at Times of San Diego. It is one in a series of breaking articles covering a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego in Clairemont on May 18, 2026.
For this, I reported on the scene, covered the response at Clairemont Canyons Academy and contributed visuals — which are included here.
» Read the full article at Times of San Diego.
At Clairemont Canyons Academy
Police closed Balboa Avenue starting at Cannington Drive, redirecting parents arriving to pick up their children from Clairemont Canyons Academy.
School leaders issued a shelter-in-place order, slowly gathering students to leave at the west entrance at the end of Mount Ada Road, beginning after 2 p.m. First graders were the first to leave, released into the care of their guardians.
Parents gathered outside were shaken; silently waiting or speaking frantically on the phone to other loved ones. Some students assembled in the hall, kneeling, looking through the bars as parents waved to their children.
Fathers picked up their crying children, quickly carrying them away from the school. Other parents consoled their youngsters while waiting for older siblings to be released.
By 3 p.m., officials closed the school gate; all students had left.