Three Men Killed at the Islamic Center of San Diego – American Crime Journal |

Their Names Need to Be Mentioned

On the morning of Monday, Might 18, 2026, at roughly 11:43 a.m., two teenage gunmen arrived on the Islamic Middle of San Diego, the biggest mosque in San Diego County, situated on the 7000 block of Eckstrom Avenue within the Clairemont neighborhood. Officers acquired the primary experiences of an lively shooter and arrived on scene inside 4 minutes, encountering three deceased grownup victims exterior the middle.

The 2 perpetrators, each youngsters, recorded a reside video of the assault and launched a racist manifesto. Authorities are investigating the incident as a hate crime. The suspects fled of their car and have been discovered useless a few blocks away close to the 7100 block of Salerno Avenue, no less than one from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

What these two youngsters couldn’t have anticipated, or maybe what that they had not counted on, was who can be standing between them and the 140 kids who have been inside that constructing.

The actions of the three victims have been described by officers as essential in stopping extra violence. Amin Abdullah instantly noticed the menace because the suspects ran previous him, engaged them with gunfire, and was killed within the alternate. He additionally reached for his radio and initiated the mosque’s lockdown protocol earlier than he died. In accordance with San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl, his actions certainly delayed, distracted, and in the end deterred the suspects from having access to the larger areas of the mosque, the place as many as 140 kids have been inside 15 ft of the gunmen.

Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad have been seen on mosque surveillance video drawing the suspects’ consideration again out into the parking zone, away from the constructing. They have been then cornered by the suspects and killed. SafeHome

These weren’t troopers. They weren’t educated for fight. They have been a safety guard, a 78-year-old neighborhood elder, and a neighbor who heard photographs and ran towards them. That’s the form of braveness that doesn’t get taught. It’s the type that both exists in an individual or it doesn’t.

The Islamic Middle of San Diego opened in 1989 and is the biggest mosque in San Diego County. The power homes a pre-Okay to 3rd grade college. The mosque had beforehand been the goal of an tried bombing in January 1991. This neighborhood has been a goal earlier than. It has been standing, serving, feeding, educating, and welcoming individuals for almost 4 many years. The individuals who constructed it and stored it working have been exactly the sort of people that died defending it on Monday.

The investigation is ongoing. The FBI is concerned. The political responses have already begun arriving within the predictable order.

However earlier than any of that, the names need to be said plainly and held there.

The Victims:

Amin Abdullah, 51. Safety guard on the Islamic Middle of San Diego.

Mansour Kaziha (also referred to as AbulEzz), 78. Caretaker and founding member of the Islamic Middle because the Nineteen Eighties.

Nadir Awad, 57. Husband of a trainer on the Islamic Middle. A neighbor who heard the photographs and ran to assist.

Kaziha was the mosque’s shopkeeper, recognized for letting kids take sweet at no cost, for feeding tons of throughout Ramadan iftar, and for being the handyman, the cook dinner, and the caretaker for forty years. Each baby who grew up within the San Diego Muslim neighborhood because the Nineteen Eighties knew him as uncle. Awad was cheerful, humorous, and on the mosque day by day for prayer. Abdullah was a devoted guard who greeted individuals with a shiny smile and occasional life recommendation. His daughter described him as a loving father, husband, son, brother, and uncle who dreamed extra for his kids.

Sources & Additional Studying

San Diego mosque capturing victims: What we all know concerning the 3 males who saved lives | CNN

Three individuals killed in capturing at Islamic Middle of San Diego | CNN

San Diego mosque capturing victims recognized | KPBS Public Media

‘He sacrificed his life’: safety guard killed in San Diego mosque assault hailed as hero | San Diego mosque capturing | The Guardian

Weapons, ammo present in houses linked to San Diego mosque shooters | NBC 7 San Diego

San Diego mosque suspects’ writings reveal affect of on-line extremism, consultants say

Posts declare San Diego mosque shooters have been ‘trans couple.’ There’s no proof | Snopes.com

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