On Monday, May 18, when two gunmen opened fire on worshippers shortly before midday prayers, three men were shot and killed outside the Islamic Center of San Diego. Police and the FBI are investigating the shooting as a hate crime, and authorities say the pair appeared to have been influenced by neo-Nazi propaganda and previous anti-Muslim attacks, including the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre in New Zealand. Both gunmen were later found dead in a nearby vehicle from what police described as self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
The victims were identified as Amin Abdullah, 51, Nadir Awad, 57, and Mansour Kaziha, 78, known affectionately in the community as Abu Ezz. Community members described all three men as having rushed toward danger to shield worshippers and children inside the mosque.
The San Diego Police Department confirmed there was no longer an active threat following the attack. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said on X that emergency personnel were on scene and actively working to protect the community and secure the area.
The Attack
The Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in the county, includes a school attended by roughly 140 children. Officials said the quick actions of Amin Abdullah, who served as a security guard at the mosque, helped trigger a lockdown that limited the death toll.
Two teen suspects were found dead in a car down the street in what appeared to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds, the San Diego Police chief said in a press conference.
The FBI assisted local law enforcement in investigating the shooting, CNN reported on Monday.
San Diego attorney and longtime mosque attendee Osama Shabaik described learning of the deaths while in the middle of his workday. “My wife called me, and she’s like ‘did you see the news? Amin is dead’. I kinda just stopped in my tracks,” he told Middle East Eye.
Shabaik recalled each of the three victims personally. “Abu Ezz was an individual who we grew up under — who showed us nothing but love. He accepted everyone as they were. He found it his responsibility to be the caretaker of the mosque. Finally, you have Nader, who in his selflessness was sitting at home and heard the gunshots and ran to help. I have a close friend who is alive because of him,” he said.
Anger at City Leadership
More than 2,000 people from across California and the United States came to the mosque for funeral prayers on Thursday, where the victims were remembered for shielding worshippers and children during the attack.
The grief rapidly gave way to anger at local officials. Several residents voiced their fury toward San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria when he visited the mosque on Monday and pledged increased police protection at religious institutions. One resident confronted the mayor directly in front of gathered community members.
Samar Ismail, a graduate student at the University of California in San Diego, said Muslim organisers had repeatedly warned officials about escalating hostility. “For the past three years, since the genocide started in Palestine, we’ve been trying to get universities, elected officials, schools, to understand the weight of the anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian Islamophobia we’ve been seeing,” she told Middle East Eye.
Ismail also questioned the mayor’s timing. “Where were you leading up to this when we were telling you our community is in pain? Right after October 7, he bailed on our meeting last minute and then had the audacity to show up on the day of the shooting,” she said.
Shabaik was equally direct. “Mayor Gloria is not someone that I would welcome into our Muslim spaces. He is someone who turned his back on the Muslim community years ago, and he turned his back on the issues that affect us,” he said.
Questions Over Prior Warnings
Police confirmed that one suspect’s mother contacted authorities before the shooting, warning that her son was suicidal and had access to firearms. Shabaik told Middle East Eye that community members were aware of online threats before the attack took place.
“We are aware of a situation in which an individual alerted the FBI about Cain Clark, one of the gunmen, over a month ago,” Shabaik said. “Cain Clark had been posting essentially the same gun and bulletproof vest that he used at the ICSD on the app Discord.”
Authorities have not confirmed whether federal investigators had prior knowledge of the suspects’ online activity. Shabaik called for a full accounting. “There are some serious questions that need to be asked of law enforcement,” he said. “We know that a few hours passed from when the mother made the phone call to police, and from when the first shots were fired.”
Broader Context
Islamophobic attacks in the United States jumped to a 15-month high in April. The Muslim Public Affairs Committee said this in a report month. The organisation said data suggested the rise in attacks was linked to the Trump administration’s policies and its decision to attack Iran.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations says it has documented at least 8,658 cases of Islamophobia and anti-Arab discrimination since 2024.
Khuram Zaman, the founding director of the Center for Security, Technology and Policy at the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, told Middle East Eye that the end of February marked a turning point. “The war in Iran started, and that is what we think is the delineation between what we saw before in 2025 versus what we’re seeing here,” he said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom was briefed on the incident, and his press office said responders were working to protect the community.
Impact on the Community
For San Diego’s Muslim community, the attack has transformed the mosque from a sanctuary into a site of grief and fear. Ismail, who described the Islamic Center as a second home, told Middle East Eye that the sense of safety the space once offered was now gone. “This mosque has been my way of finding community away from home and becoming my home, but fear has now exacerbated within the community,” she said.
Shabaik framed the attack within a longer history of vigilance. “I was in the eighth grade when 9/11 happened. We always grew up knowing that there’s a target on our back — the mosque always felt like a safe space from that,” he said.
Background
The Islamic Center of San Diego is the largest mosque in San Diego County and serves a community that includes a school of approximately 140 children. Authorities say the two attackers appeared to have drawn inspiration from neo-Nazi propaganda and the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre in New Zealand, in which 51 worshippers were killed. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has tracked thousands of Islamophobic incidents across the United States since 2024. Advocacy groups have linked the spike in anti-Muslim incidents to the Trump administration’s domestic policies and the U.S. military campaign against Iran. The San Diego attack is one of the deadliest anti-Muslim attacks on American soil in recent years.
What Happens Next
The FBI and San Diego Police Department are looking into the shooting as a hate crime. They are working together on this case. Authorities have not confirmed whether they are examining prior tips about one of the gunmen’s online activity on Discord. Mayor Todd Gloria has pledged increased police protection at religious institutions across San Diego, though no formal security plan has been publicly released. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is expected to continue documenting incidents as part of its ongoing national Islamophobia monitoring effort.
