Their Names Deserve to Be Said

On the morning of Monday, May 18, 2026, at approximately 11:43 a.m., two teenage gunmen arrived at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in San Diego County, located on the 7000 block of Eckstrom Avenue in the Clairemont neighborhood. Officers received the first reports of an active shooter and arrived on scene within four minutes, encountering three deceased adult victims outside the center.

The two perpetrators, both teenagers, recorded a live video of the attack and released a racist manifesto. Authorities are investigating the incident as a hate crime. The suspects fled in their vehicle and were found dead a couple of blocks away near the 7100 block of Salerno Street, at least one from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

What those two teenagers could not have anticipated, or perhaps what they had not counted on, was who would be standing between them and the 140 children who were inside that building.

The actions of the three victims were described by officials as crucial in preventing more violence. Amin Abdullah immediately observed the threat as the suspects ran past him, engaged them with gunfire, and was killed in the exchange. He also reached for his radio and initiated the mosque’s lockdown protocol before he died. According to San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl, his actions without a doubt delayed, distracted, and ultimately deterred the suspects from gaining access to the greater areas of the mosque, where as many as 140 children were within 15 feet of the gunmen.

Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad were seen on mosque surveillance video drawing the suspects’ attention back out into the parking lot, away from the building. They were then cornered by the suspects and killed. SafeHome

These were not soldiers. They were not trained for combat. They were a security guard, a 78-year-old community elder, and a neighbor who heard shots and ran toward them. That is the kind of courage that does not get taught. It is the kind that either exists in a person or it does not.

The Islamic Center of San Diego opened in 1989 and is the largest mosque in San Diego County. The facility houses a pre-K to third grade school. The mosque had previously been the target of an attempted bombing in January 1991. This community has been a target before. It has been standing, serving, feeding, educating, and welcoming people for nearly four decades. The people who built it and kept it running were precisely the kind of people who died defending it on Monday.

The investigation is ongoing. The FBI is involved. The political responses have already begun arriving in the predictable order.

But before any of that, the names deserve to be stated plainly and held there.

The Victims:

Amin Abdullah, 51. Security guard at the Islamic Center of San Diego.

Mansour Kaziha (also known as AbulEzz), 78. Caretaker and founding member of the Islamic Center since the 1980s.

Nadir Awad, 57. Husband of a teacher at the Islamic Center. A neighbor who heard the shots and ran to help.

Kaziha was the mosque’s shopkeeper, known for letting children take candy for free, for feeding hundreds during Ramadan iftar, and for being the handyman, the cook, and the caretaker for forty years. Every child who grew up in the San Diego Muslim community since the 1980s knew him as uncle. Awad was cheerful, funny, and at the mosque every day for prayer. Abdullah was a dedicated guard who greeted people with a bright smile and occasional life advice. His daughter described him as a loving father, husband, son, brother, and uncle who dreamed more for his children.

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Resources & Further Reading

San Diego mosque shooting victims: What we know about the 3 men who saved lives | CNN

Three people killed in shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego | CNN

San Diego mosque shooting victims identified | KPBS Public Media

‘He sacrificed his life’: security guard killed in San Diego mosque attack hailed as hero | San Diego mosque shooting | The Guardian

Weapons, ammo found in homes linked to San Diego mosque shooters | NBC 7 San Diego

San Diego mosque suspects’ writings reveal influence of online extremism, experts say

Posts claim San Diego mosque shooters were ‘trans couple.’ There’s no proof | Snopes.com

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