‘Heroic’ security guard killed protecting children and staff in San Diego mosque shooting

More than $1.4 million has been raised for the family of Amin Abdullah, the security guard fatally shot on Monday at a San Diego mosque while protecting the lives of more than a dozen children and staff at a school inside.

Abdullah was one of three people killed at the Islamic Center of San Diego, according to the mosque and a fundraiser launched by the San Diego branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said. His identity was confirmed by the mosque and CAIR, but he has not yet been named by authorities.

“He didn’t run. He stood his ground,” CAIR San Diego’s fundraiser said. “In plain words: Amin put himself between the gunmen and everyone inside.”

The other two victims have not yet been publicly identified. An imam from the Islamic Center said all teachers, students and other school staff members who were at the mosque were safe.

“Teachers, staff, and more than a dozen children were walked safely out of that building by police that afternoon, hand in hand,” the CAIR fundraiser said. “They are alive because Amin did his job.”

Two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation and a federal law enforcement official identified the suspects as Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18. San Diego police say the bodies of the two teenage suspects, believed to have died by self-inflicted gunshot wounds, were found near the mosque after the shooting. Two senior law enforcement officials told NBC News that investigators are examining possible anti-Islamic writings found in the suspects’ car.

Investigators are working to determine a motive, but the attack is being treated as a hate crime and San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said that “hate rhetoric” had been found.

US-RELIGION-CRIME — Two women cry as they leave a reunification center following the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego in southern California, on Monday.Zoë Meyers / AFP via Getty Images

The incident began around 11:45 a.m local time, when law enforcement received reports of an active shooter situation at the mosque and at an adjacent school in San Diego’s Clairemont neighborhood. It is described on the center’s website as the largest mosque in the county.

Wahl told reporters Monday that Abdullah prevented further bloodshed, calling his actions “heroic” and noting that his actions “saved lives today.”

“Those who knew him remember a man who greeted every person who walked through the masjid doors with a smile,” the CAIR fundraiser said. “He wasn’t just a guard. He was the first face of that community to anyone who came through the door — and the last line of defense when it mattered most.”

CAIR also posted footage on Instagram of Abdullah warmly greeting members of the congregation.

The shooting has sent shockwaves through the Muslim community in southern California and around the country, with campaigners calling for an end to what they call a “campaign of hate” from mainstream politicians.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria called it a “violent act of hate” and called on the city to unite against Islamophobia. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was horrified by “an apparent act of anti-Muslim violence.”

Emergency services respond to reported active shooter near San Diego Mosque — Emergency services are deployed an area close to the Islamic Center of San Diego after reports of an active shooter at a mosque, in San Diego on Monday.Michael Ho Wai Lee / Anadolu via Getty Images

The California chapter of CAIR said in a statement that the shooting attack was directly linked to comments made by lawmakers with national standing.

“We are deeply disturbed, but not at all surprised, to learn that those who attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego were reportedly motivated by anti-Muslim hate,” said Hussam Ayloush, the CEO of CAIR’s California chapter.

“Numerous politicians have spent the past year claiming that all ‘mainstream Muslims’ should be destroyed, that American mosques and elementary schools should be shut down, and that American Muslims should be expelled from our nation,” he said.

While details about the suspects remain unclear, Wahl said on a Monday press briefing that the mother of one of the teenagers called police to raise the alarm, which “began to elevate” the threat level.

“She believed her son was suicidal and she began to share that several weapons were missing, her vehicle was missing in addition to her son,” Wahl said.

Police received the call alerting them to the shooting at the mosque as they were trying to find the two boys.

Speaking at the press conference Monday, Imam Taha Hassane, the mosque’s director, said that the shooting was unprecedented but placed it within a recognizable pattern of intolerance.

“This is something that we have never expected to take place, but at the same time the religious intolerance and the hate, unfortunately, that exists in our nation is unprecedented,” he said. “All of us, we are responsible for spreading the culture of tolerance, the culture of love.”

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