Father-of-eight killed in San Diego mosque shooting hailed as hero

Security guard Amin Abdullah, one of three killed in the attack, was described as "a shining light". Security guard, Amin Abdullah, hailed as hero in deadly San Diego mosque shooting Police reveal timeline after deadly attack at San Diego mosque Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Security guard Amin Abdullah who was killed in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego Father-of-8 killed in San Diego mosque shooting hailed as a hero Split screen. On the left, police officer is seen talking to reporters. On the right, the Islamic Center of San Diego is seen. The bravery of a security guard who was shot dead along with two other worshippers at a San Diego mosque on Monday prevented the attack from being much worse, say police. The guard was Amin Abdullah, a father of eight, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations-San Diego (Cair-SD), Tazheen Nizam, told the BBC. "It's fair to say his actions were heroic," San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl told a news conference. "Undoubtedly, he saved lives today." Abdullah and two others - whom Cair-SD named as Mansour Kaziha and Nader Awad - were killed by two yet-to-be-identified teenage attackers who then took their own lives, say police. People who knew Abdullah told US media he looked after the community. Others have taken to social media to describe him as "the nicest man you'll ever meet". The mosque called him "a courageous man who put himself on the line of the safety of others, who even in his last moments did not stop protecting our community". Nizam, the Cair spokeswoman, told the BBC: "Amin was loved by everybody, he stood there day after day, always smiling, welcoming everybody, welcoming the kids who came to the school. "He was a shining light. He is a true hero, a martyr." A friend of the family told the Associated Press that Abdullah was well-known at the mosque and had worked there for more than a decade. "He wanted to defend the innocent so he decided to become a security guard," Shaykh Uthman Ibn Farooq, told the news agency. Sam Hamideh knew Abdullah through the mosque and told the BBC's US partner CBS that the security guard would be remembered for his kindness. "It didn't matter who walked up... any random person could just walk up and, like, [Abdullah] would greet them, make sure they are OK," Hamideh said. "Whether they were homeless off the street looking for something, whether it was a child or elderly." An online fundraiser for him has raised more than $1.6m (£1.2m). A woman in headscarf speaks to police near the mosque The other two victims were worshippers at the mosque, said Cair-SD. Kaziha helped maintain its grounds and convenience store. Awad's wife teaches at the school that is part of the Islamic centre. The deadly shooting unfolded close to noon on Monday after the mother of one of the two alleged attackers called police to report that her son had run away with a friend and might be suicidal. Hours later, as police were searching for the two teenagers, authorities found three victims with gunshot wounds outside the Islamic Center of San Diego, including Abdullah. Shortly afterwards, police found the two suspects - aged 17 and 18 - dead of self-inflicted wounds in a vehicle blocks away from the mosque. The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime, Wahl said, noting that "hate rhetoric" was involved. Map showing location of Islamic Center of San Diego in relation to Downtown San Diego, the airport and Clairemont Members of the Muslim community in San Diego react after shooting at their mosque on 18 May 2026 Teen suspects fatally shoot three in suspected hate crime at San Diego mosque Thomas Massie, the Republican congressman from Kentucky who led the release of the Epstein files, is running against a Trump-backed primary challenger. Some 750 firefighters are tackling the uncontrolled blazes supported by water-dropping helicopters. A medical group says an American doctor tested positive after being exposed while treating patients. Two teenage attackers fatally shot three men at a mosque in San Diego, California, in a suspected hate crime, before taking their own lives, say police. The alleged attackers were aged 17 and 18 and one left a note containing "generalised hate rhetoric", investigators say. The US government alleges that Elias Rodriguez shot and killed a young Jewish couple at an event in Washington DC a year ago. The shooting took place near Arcadia Lake, in Edmond, at around 21:00 local time on Sunday, police say. Investigators say the 31-year-old California man wanted to kill as many high-level officials as possible.