[SAN DIEGO (Clairemont) Mon May 18, 10:00 p.m.] — News Analysis
(edits: shooters ages updated 5/19)
San Diego police had a window of roughly two hours to find the 17-year-old who allegedly opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday — and despite a countywide alert and the city’s expanding network of automated license plate readers, they did not.
A 9:42 a.m. call from the suspect’s mother set the response in motion. She reported her son missing, suicidal, and possibly armed with firearms taken from the family gun safe, along with her vehicle, Chief Scott Wahl said. At 11:04 a.m., SDPD broadcast a countywide BOLO on its regional Blue 1 channel, citing a “possible terroristic threat” and describing a 17-year-old white male and a possible adult accomplice traveling in a white 2018 BMW X1. A note left on the suspect’s computer reportedly read: “I’m too far gone and this is going to happen anyways.”
Wahl said the suspect had attended Madison High School. ALPR hits placed the vehicle in the Fashion Valley area during the search. The first 911 call from the mosque came in at 11:43 a.m.
Two suspects, ages 17 and 18, were later found dead in the BMW on Hatton Street. Wahl said both appear to have died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
My Take:. SDPD has heavily promoted its ALPR program — built on Ubicquia Smart Streetlight cameras and Flock Safety software — as a force multiplier for crime prevention. Yet from 9:42 to roughly 11:42 a.m., with a fully described target vehicle and plate, the only publicly known result was a single hit in Fashion Valley. According to camera-mapping site deflock.org, the typical route from Fashion Valley to the Islamic Center crosses at least five ALPR cameras, and the mall area itself is densely covered.
It is not yet clear whether the system was being actively queried in real time, whether cameras failed to register the plate, or whether the vehicle took an evasive route. But the gap between the technology’s marketed promise and its observed performance in this two-hour window is a question the department will need to answer.
