SAN DIEGO — Five people were killed when two teenage gunmen opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday morning in an attackthat sparked widespread shock and condemnation.

Police swarmed the center after receiving calls of an active shooter and found a crime scene that expanded across several blocks in the area.

According to police, officers arrived within four minutes of the first report. Authorities said two males, 17 and 19 years old, arrived at the center and opened fire.

When officers arrived around 11:45 a.m., they found three adults dead in front of the center, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said. One of those was the center’s security guard, whose actions saved lives, Wahl said.

As officers searched the center, going door to door looking for a gunman, police received additional calls about gunfire several blocks away.

About a half mile south of the center, a landscaper reported being shot at, though he wasn’t hit. Down another street, officers eventually found the two teenage gunmen dead, apparently from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, Wahl said.

Now, police are trying to determine what led up to the shooting, which is currently being investigated as a hate crime.

A law enforcement source not authorized to speak about the ongoing investigation told The Times that investigators found anti-Islamic writings inside the vehicle where their bodies were found.

The official also said investigators have located a suicide note linked to one of the suspects that refers to racial pride, and hate speech was also found inside the vehicle.

One of the suspects was believed to have used a firearm from their parent’s home, the official said.

The shooting left the community of Clairemont north of downtown San Diego reeling.

“We have never experienced tragedy like this before,” said Taha Hassane, imam of the mosque. “It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship ... People come to the Islamic Center to pray, to celebrate, to learn.”

Tazheen Nizam, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in San Diego said children and teachers with the school were removed by police and taken to a nearby church.

“This is obviously very alarming,” said Deana Helmy, the chair of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California. “This is a house of worship. There’s a school with children there who are trying to learn, and to go through this is very, very unfortunate.”

Helmy said the shooting comes at the start of the 12th month of the lunar Muslim calendar, Dhu al-Hijjah, during which many Muslims go on their Hajj pilgrimage and celebrate Eid al-Adha.

“Having to start the month this way is a little nerve-wracking and there is fear,” Helmy said.

Mark Remly, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s office in San Diego said the agency was assisting in the investigation.

“We are actively investigating the things that led up this,” Wahl said. “Obviously, typically, things like this don’t happen on a whim.”

At a news conference following the violence, Wahl said a security guard who was killed “played a pivotal role in assisting from this being much worse.”

The shooting occurred while a school that operates at the center and mosque, was in session. The lower-grade classrooms of the K-12 facility are on site at the center, while grades 4 through 12 operate at a separate campus. It is the only accredited Islamic school in San Diego, according to the school’s website. No children were injured in the incident, said Ahmed Shabaik, chairman for the Islamic Center of San Diego, in a brief interview.

Hussam Ayloush, head of the California chapter of civil rights group the Council on American Islamic Relations said that once there are more details available on the motives of the shooting, community leaders will know better how to proceed.

“Everything is so unknown,” Ayloush said. “After we learn a motive, we can determine, was there a security breach, was it hate motivated? Obviously these things [shootings] are very random, but at this time nobody knows yet.”

In the meantime, he said his organization is reaching out to mosques across California to ensure they have security protocols in place.

“We want to communicate without creating unnecessary panic, because at the end of the day we have to live our lives and come to the mosque freely and take our kids to school.”

(Hernandez, Hussain and Winton reported from Los Angeles, Fry from San Diego.)

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