The San Diego facility was a beacon of hope. It is looking for answers after the violence

The San Diego Islamic Center is often a busy intersection, with school children, the faithful coming to pray and others just taking part in cultural activities.

But these days, the site is busy for another, much darker reason. The community mourns. An ever-growing pile of marigolds, daisies and sunflowers and notes sit under a large palm tree outside the mosque’s gates.

The entrance to the facility remains sealed off with yellow crime scene tape. No children are registered to go to school. Now the parents slowly approach – with tears in their eyes – to take their children’s belongings and share their grief.

The center – its minaret can be seen for miles – draws participants from all over the world. Many of the mosque’s worshipers have immigrated to America from Gaza and other areas besieged by violence. The large white building with its green tiled roof has been the center of daily communication with God, numerous Eid celebrations and events that have welcomed interfaith communities.

To them, the mosque represents the best America has to offer: peace, a sense of community and love.

That sense of security was shattered on Monday, when three people were killed – a security guard, a longtime mosque employee and a teacher’s husband – trying to stop two child shooters from killing others, including scores of children hiding in classrooms.

Many churches are still in a state of denial that this institution – a place where they feel safe – quickly became a place of violence and tragedy. There is also a burning anger at the anti-Muslim hatred that has been embraced – and perpetuated – by some of the country’s highest elected officials.

Imam Taha Hassane, wearing glasses, hugs a vigil attendee on May 19, 2026, the day after a deadly shooting at a San Diego mosque.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

“We are aware of what is happening around the world, across the country, the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment, the rise of sentiment against all kinds of minority views, but we never expected such things to happen,” Imam Taha Hassane told The Times.

Tamer Bar, 39, prays at the mosque at least twice a day. His family back in Gaza faces violence every day, and he said the mosque offers respite from the painful destruction of his homeland.

“When we pray in the mosque, we leave everything and go to face God,” he said. “A place of peace.”

Omar Abusham, 23, has been going to the San Diego Islamic Center since he was 3 years old. His childhood memories, in many ways, revolve around the mosque.

“Our mosque is not just a place to pray. We have activities, we have youth groups, we have a school. It was more than just a mosque or a religious place. If you want to spend time with your friends, you will come to the mosque. So seeing this happening is devastating,” he said.

He attended an Arabic school on Saturdays at this institution. His family and friends gathered there for Eid al-Fitr. He now works across the street from the mosque as director of programs and outreach coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

He goes to the mosque twice a day to pray. But his favorite moments were the events that united the community without faith – a rally in Palestine or an event in Sudan.

Going back will be painful, he said, but he knows the community will be patient.

“I think this is a story we will tell our children, and it is something we will not ignore,” he said.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl speaks to members of the Muslim community on May 18, 2026.

(Carlos A. Moreno / Getty Images)

Tensions flared again at a news conference with San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria on Monday. A woman accosted the mayor as he was about to speak and accused the city’s leadership of ignoring the concerns of the Muslim and Palestinian communities. “How long have my Muslim brothers and sisters been talking to you?” he shouted. “You have to
f— listen to them.”

Rakib Hameed Naik, executive director of the Washington-based Center for the Study of Organized Hate, a nonprofit that tracks online extremism, said anti-Muslim sentiment has reached an all-time high nearly a year ago and has been fueled by more than 80 Republican elected officials who have “used their platforms to promote a dangerous narrative by coordinating a public affairs campaign” and promoting social media coverage. conspiracy theories.

“There is this widespread climate of hatred against Muslims,” ​​Naik said. “This shooting in San Diego is a clear manifestation of that.”

An online smear campaign last month engulfed another mosque in Southern California.

In a post on X, a social media activist who often spreads anti-Muslim views said that the Islamic Society of Orange County’s expansion plans will create a “compromised” society and a “Sharia enclave” where US laws do not apply, in order to implement the “Islamization” of Orange County.

Mosque leaders said online abuse had led to an outpouring of hate speech and threats of violence against the institution and its members. In response, the Garden Grove Police Department increased patrols in the area.

“We’re seeing a pattern,” said Deana Helmy, chairwoman of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, about the incident last month and the public fear after the San Diego shooting.

People attend a vigil the day after the May 18, 2026, shooting outside the San Diego Islamic Center.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

The Council on American-Islamic Relations received 8,683 civil rights complaints in 2025, the highest number of complaints in a single year since it began tracking such data in 1996. Of those complaints, 198 were considered hate crimes, according to its latest report.

The Islamic Center of San Diego and its congregations have been victims of threats and hate speech in the past. The agency increased security and began beefing up security after the attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.

Abdullah, the armed security guard who was killed, had encouraged women to learn self-defense, especially those who wore hijabs, who were at greater risk of violence because they appeared to be Muslim, said Ismahan Abdullahi, a local Muslim leader and activist who is currently executive director of the Faith Power Alliance.

He has offered volunteer training to other nearby mosques that may not have the money to hire security guards.

Abdullah took his work so seriously, Abdullah said, that he would stand in the hot sun staring and sometimes skip meals. He would not stay, to stay ready, he said.

“I don’t think I’ve seen him sitting down in all these years,” he said.

The vandals targeted the mosque. People threw eggs and hurled curses and slurs as they passed through the centre. It happens a lot during elections, said Hasane, “when some politicians want to score cheap political points.”

The mosque and those who attended were expecting such a speech, but it did not discourage those who worshiped there.

“This mosque is a second home for members of my community,” said Hasane, pausing for tears.

“This is the place where the members of my community, if they want to worship, if they want to meditate, if they want to celebrate, if they want to study, if they want to enjoy their time, come here,” he said.

Misbah Rashad, 30, a pathologist who comes to the mosque every day, said it was surprising to see such an important place for him and his community in the news.

“When I see the pictures, I think, ‘I came down this way, I know that front door.’ These are all the pictures I know. That’s what makes it real,” said Rashad. “I hope there are ways, inshallah, to prevent something like this from happening again.”

Suzan Hamideh is trying to come to terms with what happened at the mosque she has been visiting for three decades. Years ago, his children attended Saturday school in the mosque, buying snacks from Mansour Kaziha, who ran the market inside the center. Kaziha was also killed in this incident.

Right now, he said, he is angry – about the deaths, the fact that children will live with this trauma for the rest of their lives and the misunderstanding of the Islamic religion that he suspects has led to the violence.

“It is very sad that every time there is an Islamic organization or an Islamic house of worship or an Islamic school, we get news that the shooters are mentally ill,” he said, adding that when other groups are attacked the authorities call it terrorism.

“I’m very sorry, but we’re done for these reasons,” he said.