Three Dead in Shooting at San Diego Islamic Center

Illustration of police line. (Wikimedia Commons/Tony Webster)

JAKARTA - Three people were killed in a shooting at the Islamic Center, a complex that includes a mosque and an Islamic school in San Diego, in an attack allegedly motivated by hatred, US authorities said.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said the two shooters in Monday's shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego (ICSD) in southern California were also found dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

"Because of its location in the center of Islam, we consider this a hate crime until proven otherwise," Wahl told reporters, launching Al Jazeera (19/5).

The suspects are two men, believed to be aged 17 and 19, according to the police chief.

Further, Wahl explained, one of the victims was a security officer at the Islamic center, who played a crucial role in ensuring that the incident did not get worse.

He added that authorities were investigating and trying to "find out and reconstruct what caused this incident".

The three victims were adults. According to authorities, the children at the school did not suffer any physical injuries.

The San Diego Police Department previously reported an active shooting incident at ICSD before stating that the threat had been "neutralized".

Meanwhile, the mosque's imam at the complex, Taha Hassane, has touted the ICSD as a place for people - including non-Muslims - to gather and pray, study, and celebrate.

"It is outrageous to target places of worship. Our Islamic center is a place of worship," said Hassane.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria emphasized that "hatred has no place" in the city.

"To the local Muslim community, our prayers are with you," said Mayor Gloria. "I want to assure our Muslim community that we will make every effort to ensure that you feel safe in this city, and no resources will be spared to ensure that our religious institutions and locations are protected in this sensitive time," he said.

Separately, FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency's local division was responding to the incident, and promised that "all resources will be available to assist local partners".

After the shooting, the New York Police Department (NYPD) announced it would increase protection for mosques in the city.

"Although it is currently unknown that there is any connection with NYC or a specific threat to places of worship in NYC, as a precaution, the NYPD is increasing the deployment of personnel at mosques throughout the city," said the NYPD.

The police set up a reunification point for people in the area. The mosque posted on social media that children could be picked up from the nearest church.

The ICSD is located in a residential area in the Clairemont neighborhood of San Diego, north of downtown.

The incident comes amid rising Islamophobia in the US, with many politicians and commentators regularly attacking Muslim communities.

For example, Congressman Randy Fine, an ally of President Donald Trump, said late last year that Muslims should be "destroyed".

Then on Monday, Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist close to President Trump, said the ICSD should be raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and immigration authorities.

He shared a 2023 social media post by the wife of a mosque imam accusing Israel of killing children.

"The mosque that 'allegedly' was shot today," Loomer wrote in an accompanying message. "Remember that the people who attend this mosque want us all to be killed."