The mayor of San Diego was savaged by a foul-mouthed heckler live on TV over a deadly hate-crime shooting at the city’s largest mosque.
Three men, including a security guard hailed for limiting the carnage, were gunned down at the Islamic Center of San Diego in the Clairemont neighborhood hours earlier, after two teenage attackers opened fire and then turned their weapons on themselves.
Police have identified the suspects as Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, and said anti-Islamic writings, a suicide note about racial pride, and a firearm scrawled with the words “Hate speech” were recovered, CNN reported.
Hours later, as San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, 48, stepped up to the podium for an evening briefing alongside law enforcement, an unidentified woman in the crowd ripped into him with a profanity-laced rant and held him personally responsible for the bloodshed.
“This is a f---ing direct result of your leadership! Your leadership!” she yelled. “Our Muslim brothers and sisters have been talking to you for how long? You had to f---ing listen to them, Todd, just like you did with ICE.”
She added, “And you’ll keep doing it as long as it lines your f---ing pockets! Do something! Worst approval rating than a fascist dictator with s--t in his hands!”
Gloria—San Diego’s first openly gay mayor and first person of color to hold the office—paused for several seconds, stared down at the lectern, then carried on with his prepared remarks as if nothing had happened.
The Democrat has been a long-running target for local activists who accuse him of going soft on ICE.
In January, five protesters were hauled out of his State of the City speech for demanding he confront immigration agents in San Diego, and days later, a group barricaded themselves inside his City Hall chambers and were arrested.
At Monday’s briefing, Gloria eventually pledged extra protection for houses of worship and condemned the attack. “Hate has no home in San Diego,” he said. “Islamophobia has no home in San Diego.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the mayor’s office for comment.
