Three victims identified in San Diego mosque attack, officials say

Authorities have confirmed the identities of two additional men killed in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, which officials are investigating as a hate crime.

Mosque officials said Tuesday that Mansour Kaziha and Nader Awad were among three victims fatally shot when two gunmen attacked the religious site Monday.

Friends and family earlier identified Amin Abdullah, a security guard credited with confronting the attackers, as the third man killed. The alleged gunmen, later found dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds, remain unidentified pending notification of relatives.

Ahmed Shabaik, chairman of the mosque’s board of directors, said all three victims played roles in responding to the gunmen.

Mansour Kaziha, a longtime mosque employee, called police before being killed, Shabaik said. Nader Awad, a mosque member who lived across the street, rushed to the facility after hearing gunshots.

Kaziha “has been with the mosque since its construction in the 1980s”, Shabaik said. “He does everything in the mosque, all the everyday demands. He also ran the gift shop inside the mosque and was behind all the cooking during Ramadan for iftar and made the suhoor meals.”

“He was a cornerstone, a pillar of this masjid,” Shabaik said, noting that Kaziha, originally from Syria, was married with five adult children.

Awad was also a husband and father, Shabaik said, adding that “when he heard the shots, he ran into the masjid to help, he also diverted some people who were coming to the masjid at the time.”

Imam Taha Hassane told a news conference Tuesday that Awad’s wife teaches at the Islamic school and that he was devout.

“He is every single day at the Islamic Center, joining the prayers every single day,” Hassane said.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said the three men’s actions likely helped save 140 children inside a school at the mosque complex.

Wahl said Abdullah engaged in a gunfight with the attackers and followed lockdown protocols, slowing their advance. After Abdullah was killed, Awad and Kaziha “drew the attention” of the gunmen to the parking lot, where the suspects were ultimately cornered and killed.

“I want to be very clear, all three of our victims did not die in vain,” Wahl said. “Without distracting the attention, without delaying the actions of these two individuals, without question, there would have been many more fatalities yesterday.”

The mosque complex, the largest in the county, remained closed Tuesday as police continued their investigation. Authorities said the alleged attackers, ages 17 and 18, have not been publicly identified.

Police had been searching for the teenagers for two hours before the attack, after one of their mothers reported her son was suicidal and had run away. Authorities searched homes believed linked to the suspects Tuesday, and an FBI official said more than 30 guns and a crossbow had been recovered.

Police Chief Wahl told reporters that investigators had not uncovered a direct threat against the mosque, but the suspects used general “hate rhetoric.”

Shabaik said the mosque has seen an increase in hate calls in recent times, as Islamophobia has remained elevated amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

That has included Islamophobic statements by several U.S. senators and members of the House of Representatives.

“Hate against American Muslims is completely out of control,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement Tuesday.

“A deadly attack on an American mosque was as predictable as it is unacceptable,” the group said.

Mosque officials said that while precautions had been taken, the community could not anticipate the attack would go this far.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Shabaik expressed relief that the attack did not occur during Friday prayers, when the mosque is typically most crowded, and that a college class visiting the facility had departed moments before the shooting.

He pointed to an outpouring of support since Monday: a fundraising page promoted by the mosque for victims raised nearly $500,000 within a day, and a separate page launched by CAIR San Diego for Abdullah’s family topped $2 million.

“We know that they and their families have sacrificed a lot for the sake of the community,” Shabaik said. “So we love them, and we would like to support them in every way that we can.”