Mansour Kaziha, Nader Awad were identified as victims of the San Diego Mosque attack | Issues of Islamophobia

Authorities have confirmed two more men were killed in the attack on the Islamic Center in San Diego, in the latest act of terrorism in the United States.

Mosque officials on Tuesday said Mansour Kaziha and Nader Awad were killed when two terrorists attacked the religious site the day before.

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This came after friends and family to be known Amin Abdullah, a security guard known to have stopped the attackers, while a third person was killed. The suspected gunmen were later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police are investigating the attack as a hate crime.

The chairman of the mosque’s management committee, Ahmed Shabaik, said the three men took action in response to the shooting.

Mansour Kaziha, a long-time employee of the mosque, called the police before he was killed, Shabaik said. Nader Awad, a member of the mosque who lives across the street, rushed to the scene after hearing gunshots.

Kaziha “has had a mosque since it was built in the 1980s”, Shabaik said. “He did everything in the mosque, the daily needs. He also ran the gift shop inside the mosque and was behind all the Ramadan cooking for iftar and cooking for suhoor.”

“He was the cornerstone, the pillar of this mosque,” he said, adding that Kaziha, who was originally from Syria, was married with five grown children.

Awad was also a husband and a father, he said, adding that “when he heard the shooting, he ran to the mosque to help, he also diverted other people who were coming to the mosque at the time.”

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Imam Taha Hassane said Awad’s wife is a teacher at an Islamic school and was a volunteer in the area.

“He spends every day at the Islamic Center, joining the prayers every day,” he said.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said the actions of the three men helped save 140 children from the school at the address.

He said Abdullah exchanged gunfire with the attackers and took appropriate measures to block them, slowing their advance. After being killed, Awad and Kaziha “drew the attention” of their attackers to a car park, where they were trapped and killed.

“I want to be clear, all three victims did not die in vain,” Wahl said. “Without distracting attention, without delaying what these two people have done, without a doubt, many people would have died yesterday.”

‘Predictions if not valid’

On Tuesday, the mosque building, the largest in the region, was closed as police continued their investigation. Authorities said the victims were 17 and 18 years old, but their identities were not immediately released.

Police have been searching for the youth for two hours during the attack. The response was done after one of their mothers told the police that her son wanted to kill himself and had run away from home. Officials are searching the homes of suspected criminals Tuesday, where an FBI official said more than 30 guns and a bow were found.

Speaking to reporters, Police Chief Wahl said he had not disclosed any threats to the mosque, but that the suspects had used “hateful” information.

Shabaik said the mosque has seen an increase in hate calls recently, as cases of Islamophobia have continued to rise amid ongoing unrest in Gaza.

This includes Islamophobic words and several US senators and members of the House of Representatives.

“Hatred against American Muslims is unacceptable,” the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Tuesday.

“The horrific attack on an American mosque was as predictable as it is unacceptable,” it said.

The mosque officials said that although preventive measures were taken, the community could not expect it to reach this far.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Shabaik expressed relief that the attack did not happen during Friday prayers, when the mosque is at its busiest, and that the college group visiting the site had left before Monday.

He reported on the outpouring of aid since Monday, and a fundraising website for victims encouraged by the mosque to raise nearly $500,000 within a day. Separate income page launched by CAIR San Diego for the Abullah family has raised $2m.

“We know that they and their families have sacrificed a lot for the community,” Shabaik said. “That’s why we love them, and we want to help them in any way we can.”