A man who opened fire inside an El Cajon dental office, killing one person and injuring two others, was a "disgruntled former customer" who purchased the gun used in the altercation just two weeks ago, El Cajon police said Friday.
Mohammed Abdulkareem, 29 of El Cajon, was taken into custody near Balboa Park Thursday after an hours-long manhunt for the white U-Haul truck he rented out of San Diego. ECPD said Friday that a tip from the public led police to 6th Avenue and Quince Street the truck was parked. Abdulkareem was found a short time later nearby. Several loaded handgun magazines and a loaded handgun, which had been purchased just two weeks before the shooting, were inside the pickup, investigators said Friday.
While El Cajon police said Abdulkareem was a disgruntled patient, the exact motive was not known for the shooting inside the Smile Plus dental office at 480 N. Magnolia Ave. around 4:15 p.m. Thursday.
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Anwer Abdulkareem, the suspect’s brother, said the alleged shooter had been exhibiting concerning behavior in recent months and that the family couldn’t convince him to seek treatment, NBC News reported on Friday.
“He needed help,” the brother told NBC News. “He had fear, he had paranoia. He was thinking everyone was after him, there’s a gang, there’s a cartel. He was seeing stuff that was not happening.”
El Cajon police arrived at the scene to find three victims with gunshot wounds. First responders could be seen giving CPR to a man on the ground but he did not survive. On Friday, the Chabad of Downtown identified the man as 28-year-old Dr. Benjamin Harouni.
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Later in the day, county officials confirmed the identification.
Another man in his 40s and a woman in her 20s were transported to the hospital with serious injuries. Their current condition was not known but El Cajon police said they were "stable" Thursday night.
Jose Antonio Carillo identified his only daughter, Yareli Carillo, as one of the shooting victims. He says she is 27 years old and works in the front office of the dental office. He does not believe his daughter knew the shooter.
"My wife called me, and she said my daughter called her and that she is OK, but she was shot in the legs," Antonio told NBC 7.
The shooter fled the scene in a rented white U-Haul pickup truck with an Arizona license plate. El Cajon police were quickly able to capture an image of the vehicle with the city's Flock traffic camera system and alert the public an "armed and dangerous" suspect was on the loose, the agency said in a news briefing.
Abdulkareem was booked into San Diego County Central Jail on multiple felony charges, including one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Further investigation into the incident may reveal additional felony charges.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was assisting with the investigation, according to a spokesperson for ATF Los Angeles Field Division. FBI San Diego is also assisting as needed, the agency wrote in a statement to NBC 7.
On Friday, the Jewish Federation of San Diego released a statement regarding the shooting in El Cajon that read, in part, "We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a member of our Jewish community during the attack that occurred last night in El Cajon.
It went on to say, "At this point, there is nothing to suggest that this incident was a hate crime, and authorities have not indicated that hate or prejudice were motivating factors in this devastating event. We trust in the investigative process and will await further information to fully understand what transpired."
Shortly before 3 p.m., El Cajon police tweeted out that they were aware that the public was interested in the motivation behind the shooting, but that, "[while] we are still in the early stages of the investigation, we want to make it clear that there is no indication the attack was racially or politically motivated."
