Imam of San Diego Islamic Center Says His Community Has Seen a Rise in Islamophobia: "We Are Not Naïve"
Imam Taha Hassane said the community has seen a rise in Islamophobia after the shooting killed three men and is being investigated as a hate crime.
- On May 18, 2026, two teenage gunmen stormed the Islamic Center of San Diego, killing three men before dying in a nearby vehicle, an attack targeting the complex serving the city's 1.4 million residents.
- Investigators are treating the massacre as a hate crime, with suspects Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, having left a manifesto outlining extremist "religious and racial beliefs of how the world they envisioned should look."
- Security guard Amin Abdullah died engaging the attackers, actions San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl called "heroic" because they deterred gunmen from reaching areas where 140 children were within 4.5m of the suspects.
- Imam Taha Hassane blamed the attack on a "rise of white supremacy," urging elected officials to stop dehumanizing rhetoric from giving bigots a "green light" to commit violence.
- The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported 8,683 civil rights complaints nationwide in 2025, the highest since 1996; despite the tragedy, Hassane promised the community will continue "building bridges with other faith communities.
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Jewish groups express solidarity after deadly attack at San Diego Islamic center
A coalition of Jewish organizations issued an open letter on Wednesday expressing solidarity with the Muslim community following Monday’s deadly attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego.The letter, organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, was signed by 15 Jewish groups, including UJA-Federation of New York, B'nai Brith International, Zioness Movement and the Simon Wiesenthal Center."We mourn the victims of the horrific a…
Three Dead Following Shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego
On May 18, 2026, at approximately 11:45 a.m., San Diego police responded to reports of an active shooter at the Islamic Center of San Diego (ICSD) in Clairemont. Upon arriving at the scene, officers identified three deceased victims. The suspects were later discovered dead in their vehicles from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds. The suspected shooters, ages 17 and 19, and as stated by San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl, had past involvemen…
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