A security guard died protecting worshippers at San Diego’s largest mosque, and a 13-year-old who knew him said he sacrificed his life

The investigation into the mass shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego is being handled as a hate crime after three people were killed at the county’s largest mosque on Monday, May 18, 2026. The community was left in mourning following the attack, with authorities confirming that the two suspected shooters, aged 17 and 18, died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. As detailed by The Guardian, one of the victims was a security guard who placed himself between the gunmen and the worshippers inside.

Maya, a 13-year-old who regularly attends the mosque, was present near the police tape as the area was locked down. She said she knew the victims from time spent at the center, particularly during Ramadan. Of the security guard, she said: “He sacrificed his life to save everyone else’s.”

The attack also disrupted nearby schools. Madison High School was placed under lockdown as events unfolded, and a 16-year-old student named Tommy described hiding in a cafeteria kitchen with staff and other students for roughly half an hour. For Tommy, who has lived in the United States for about a year and a half, it was his second school lockdown of the year. He remarked: “It goes with the stereotypes that I have heard about America.”

The mosque’s imam called the center a house of worship, not a battlefield

Taha Hassane, the imam and director of the Islamic Center of San Diego, addressed the press following the attack. “We have never experienced a tragedy like this before, and at this moment, all what I can say is sending our prayers and standing in solidarity with all the families in our community here and also the other mosques, and all the places of worship in our beautiful city should always be protected,” he said. He added: “It is a house of worship. It’s not a battlefield.”

The attack came amid a documented rise in anti-Muslim sentiment nationally. The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ 2026 Civil Rights Report, titled The Right to be Different, recorded 8,683 complaints in 2025, the highest single-year figure since the organization began tracking data in 1996. The report noted a resurgence of narratives claiming Islamic principles are inherently anti-American, and flagged a pattern of public officials working to narrow what Americans can believe or how they can worship. This unfolded amid Trump’s approval hitting a new low during his second term.

A man named Jesus, who recently moved to California from New York, said he received a warning text shortly before he had planned to visit the mosque. He arrived to find police, weapons, and crying community members. “The Islamophobia going on in this country, that’s not going to stop me from praying five times a day, it’s not going to stop me from standing with my community,” he said. “It’s not going to stop me from advocating for our people. If anything, it’s making me want to do it more.” California has seen other violent incidents in recent weeks, including a fatal house fire in the state that killed a mother and her son and pointed to a person living in the home.

The investigation into the motives and backgrounds of the two teenagers remains ongoing.