SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Three people killed in the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego were identified on Tuesday by the Council on American Islamic Relations.
CAIR officials stated the following about the victims of Monday’s shooting:
“Amin Abdullah was the security guard who risked his own life to alert the school and other individuals inside regarding the active shooter. He is the definition of a hero who bravely made the ultimate sacrifice to save others over himself.
Mansour Kaziha, lovingly known as Abu Ezz, was a community leader who managed the mosque store for nearly 40 years and was a loving husband, father and grandfather.
Nader Awad turned away community members from the bullets and saved lives.
These three protected children inside the center and school and there is no doubt that the casualties would have been much worse without their heroism.”
The shooting at the mosque at 7050 Ekcstrom Ave. was reported at about 11:40 a.m. Monday, according to San Diego police. Officers arrived within four minutes to find three men, one of them an on-duty security guard, dead outside the mosque, SDPD Chief Scott Wahl said in a press conference.
"This is every community's worst nightmare. ... Our hearts go out to the families that are in this moment being notified of what has happened to their loved ones," Wahl said during a mid-afternoon briefing.
The shooting led to a massive police deployment in the busy mid-city neighborhood, along with evacuations of the mosque and its educational facility for young children, road closures in the area and lockdowns at nearby public schools.
As those operations were getting underway, police received reports of another shooting in the area, this one on Salerno Street, just south of the Islamic center.
"There was a landscaper that was doing his work and was shot at, and fortunately was not hit," Wahl said.
Not long after the second shooting was reported, officers were called to yet another nearby location. There, in the 3800 block of Hatton Street, a vehicle was stopped in the roadway, and inside it were the bodies of the suspected perpetrators of the shooting spree -- an 18-year-old man and 17-year-old boy. They are believed to have died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, Wahl told news crews.
The case was being investigated as a suspected hate crime, the police chief noted.
In the late afternoon, police reported that one of the suspects had been reported as a runaway about two hours before the mosque shooting occurred.
"SDPD pieced together bits of information from the juvenile's mother," a department statement asserted. "She believed her son was suicidal and shared information that several of her weapons were missing, along with her vehicle.She also stated that he was with a companion, who was dressed in camouflage."
Via automated license-plate-reading camera technology, authorities learned that the woman's vehicle had been in Mission Valley, near Fashion Valley mall during the morning, but officers dispatched to that area did not locate the car or the suspects there.
CONTINUING COVERAGE:
- Three victims killed, two suspects dead after shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego
- After hours-long wait, search warrant finally executed at 17-year-old mass shooting suspect's home
- Parents, students try to make sense of mass shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego
- Two teens die by self-inflicted gunshots near Islamic Center of San Diego
- Community in shock after deadly shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego
- Clairemont mosque had bolstered security years before mass shooting
- Sharp Memorial Hospital activates disaster procedures following Islamic Center shooting
City News Service contributed to this report.
