Thousands honor victims of San Diego mosque shooting at funeral prayers

Thousands gathered at Mission Valley River Park on Thursday for Janazah prayers that turned grief into resolve, honoring the three men killed in Monday’s attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego while refusing to let anti-Muslim violence push the community into fear. The memorial came ahead of a private burial service for Mansour Kaziha, 78, Nadir Awad, 57, and Amin Abdulluh, 51.

The prayer service drew interfaith supporters as well as longtime members of the mosque, underscoring how the killings reverberated far beyond San Diego’s Muslim community. Leaders at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in San Diego County, described the center as a place that serves the religious needs of local Muslims while also working with the wider community. The campus also includes a school, a detail that sharpened concern about the vulnerability of houses of worship and educational spaces to extremist violence.

Police said the shooting was reported shortly before noon on Monday, May 18, and left five people dead in all, including the two suspected teenage shooters, ages 17 and 18, who died from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds after the attack. Officials said the security guard’s actions were heroic and likely prevented additional deaths. The San Diego Police Department and the FBI are investigating the case as a hate crime.

Investigators said the suspects appeared to have been inspired by the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre in New Zealand, an attack that remains a searing reference point for Muslim communities worldwide. They also said writings tied to the suspects contained broad racist and hateful rhetoric, including anti-Muslim, antisemitic, anti-Hispanic, anti-gay, anti-trans and misogynistic language. The detail has intensified alarm among local leaders who see the San Diego shooting not as an isolated outburst, but as part of a wider climate of anti-Muslim hatred.

At the memorial, Hanif Mohebi and other community members pressed the same message in different ways: the dead must be mourned, the living must be protected, and public officials must show solidarity that goes beyond condolences. For San Diego’s Muslims, the prayers at Mission Valley River Park were an act of mourning, but also a public refusal to retreat.