A-Infos (en) Spaine, Regeneracion - Isolated Cases? Far-Right Terrorism By LIZA (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Episode 1: Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez - The San Diego Mosque Shooters 
--- Introduction to Isolated Cases? ---- Some time ago I wrote an 
article called The Modernization of the Radical Right (Part 1 and Part 
2), which can be obtained-at Liza events-in fanzine format along with a 
graphic guide to identifying far-right symbols, where I tried to explain 
how certain radicalization processes no longer occur solely through 
parties, formal organizations, or closed ideologies. A portion of 
contemporary extremist violence circulates in more diffuse spaces: 
forums, private servers, channels, anonymous accounts, memes, recycled 
manifestos, and online communities where isolated young people learn to 
interpret violence as identity.

Table of Contents
Introduction to Isolated Cases?
The Attack
Manifestos and Copycats
"Ongezellig" and Cultural Niches
Next Episode

Isolated Cases?, was created to analyze specific attacks that escalated 
from online to physical harm. The goal is not to make the perpetrators 
the central figures, but rather to observe patterns: shared symbols, 
cross-references, similar aesthetics, fascination with previous 
attackers, and a desire for recognition within extremist communities. 
When several cases share language, codes, and ways of presenting 
themselves to the world, the question ceases to be simply whether they 
are isolated incidents. We must also ask what connects them.

The term that is appearing with increasing frequency is "Nihilistic 
Violent Extremism," or NVE. In cases like San Diego, it doesn't describe 
a total absence of ideology, but rather a fragmented mix of neo-Nazism, 
white supremacy, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, misogyny, accelerationism, 
and niche digital culture. It is a memetic extremism, unstable and 
difficult to detect if analyzed solely with traditional categories.

The attack
On May 18, 2026, 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Vazquez 
attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego. Authorities identified them as 
suspects in the shooting and investigated the case as a possible hate 
crime. According to initial reports, both shared hostility toward 
various religious and racial groups.

Before the attack, there was a warning sign. The mother of one of the 
suspects called the police to report that her son had disappeared, that 
he might be at risk of suicide, that weapons were missing, and that he 
had taken a vehicle. She also indicated that he might be accompanied by 
another young man. Hours later, emergency calls came in from the Islamic 
center.

The victims were Amin Abdullah, a security guard at the center; Nader 
Awad, a local resident whose wife worked at the school connected to the 
complex; and Mansour Kaziha, one of the mosque's older and regular 
members. Abdullah, a father of eight, was identified by police as a key 
figure in activating the initial response and allowing others to take 
cover. School was in session at the complex that day, with approximately 
140 students present.

According to authorities, Clark and Vazquez met online and later 
discovered they lived in the same area. This transition from a digital 
connection to a physical encounter is key to the case. The investigation 
recovered writings, devices, and materials associated with the attack, 
including a 75-page manifesto attributed to both young men and a video 
that circulated online.

Manifestos and copycats
The pattern is clear: manifesto, recording, symbolism, references to 
previous aggressors, and a desire to leave a digital mark. In this type 
of violence, these elements don't function solely as personal 
expression. They are also directed at a specific audience: users who 
understand the codes, archive the materials, and incorporate them into a 
chain of imitations.

The manifesto attributed to Clark and Vazquez contained racism, 
Islamophobia, antisemitism, white supremacy, and references to the 
"Great Replacement" conspiracy theory. Rather than an original text, it 
followed a template already seen in other attacks. Brenton Tarrant 
occupies a central place in this culture of imitation.

After Christchurch, other perpetrators copied parts of his model. Payton 
Gendron adapted that formula for a younger generation, shaped by forums, 
memes, graphics, obsessive documentation, and constant consumption of 
propaganda. Observed patterns in these situations include:

the "Sonnenrad",
writing about weapons,
militarized aesthetics
record the attack.
The staging was also part of the message. Reports mention camouflage 
clothing, neo-Nazi and white supremacist symbols, messages written on 
weapons, and an intention to record the attack. These elements are 
reminiscent of a visual repertoire used by other attackers. References 
to militant accelerationism and groups like "Atomwaffen Division," a 
neo-Nazi movement that advocated decentralized violence as a means to 
accelerate social collapse, also appear.

«Ongezellig» and cultural niches
One of the most distinctive elements of the case is the presence of 
"Ongezellig," an independent Dutch animated series created by Studio 
Massa. In the material attributed to the attackers, the series doesn't 
appear as a casual reference, but rather as part of a subcultural 
identity. Its characters and memes were reinterpreted in nationalist, 
incel, doomer, and school shooter cult spaces. The series doesn't 
explain the attack, but it helps to understand the cultural ecosystem in 
which these young people moved: imageboards, nihilistic humor, rejection 
of the mainstream, and the appropriation of other people's characters as 
internal codes.

The case has also been interpreted in relation to environments 
associated with The Com and 764. These names do not designate a single 
organization, but rather overlapping networks and subcultures where 
grooming, exploitation, blackmail, cults of murderers, aesthetic 
Satanism, neo-Nazism, self-harm, and peer pressure can intersect. San 
Diego is yet another case of online youth radicalization, access to 
weapons, religious and racial hatred, glorification of murderers, 
appropriation of memes, and possible contact with NVE subcultures. The 
most useful interpretation is not choosing between "neo-Nazism" or 
"nihilism," but understanding how both dimensions can overlap. Ideology 
provides enemies, symbols, and justification. Nihilism and 
accelerationism contribute contempt for life, a fascination with harm, 
and a desire for collapse.

Next episode
In the next episode, we travel to Norway, 2011. There, a figure emerges 
whom many subsequent attackers would study, copy, or try to surpass: 
Anders Behring Breivik. To understand how a massacre can become a point 
of reference, we must return to that summer. And to a manifesto that did 
not remain buried with its victims.

Don Diego de la Vega, a militant from Liza.

https://regeneracionlibertaria.org/2026/07/12/casos-aislados-terrorismo-ultra/
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