Two gunmen & three victims dead in shooting at Islamic Centre in US; Muslim group slams attack

SAN DIEGO, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th May, 2026) Two teenage gunmen opened fire on Monday at the Islamic Center of San Diego, California, killing three men outside the mosque, one of them a security guard, before the two suspects were found dead, apparently from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, police said, as a prominent Muslim advocacy group slammed the attack.

All of the children attending a school that is part of the center – the largest mosque in the region near the Mexico border – were accounted for and safe after the shooting, which erupted Monday afternoon, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl was cited as saying in media reports.

Wahl said the FBI was called in to assist the investigation of the incident, which the police chief said authorities were treating as a hate crime, although no motive for the gun violence has been suggested.

The attack came the week before Eid al-Adha and the Hajj pilgrimage to the holy site of Makkah in Saudi Arabia.

“We have never experienced a tragedy like this before,” said Taha Hassane, the Imam and director of the Islamic Center, speaking to reporters. “It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship.”

Scores of law enforcement officers called to the scene encountered the bodies of three men affiliated with the mosque shot dead outside the building, including a security guard who officials credited with likely having helped prevent further bloodshed.

A short time later, police discovered the bodies of two teenage males, aged 17 and 19, in a vehicle in the middle of a street, dead from apparently self-inflicted gunshot wounds, the chief said at an afternoon news conference.

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At about the time police were responding en masse to gunfire at the mosque, shots also were fired at a landscaper a couple of blocks away, though authorities did not make clear whether investigators believe the two incidents were connected. The landscaper was not injured, Wahl said.

In a statement, the Council on American Islamic relations (CAIR) said, “We are deeply disturbed, but not at all surprised, to learn that those who attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego were reportedly motivated by anti-Muslim hate.

“Hate against American Muslims is completely out of control, " CAIR said, pointing out that Numerous politicians have spent the past year claiming that all ‘mainstream Muslims’ should be destroyed, that American mosques and elementary schools should be shut down, and that American Muslims should be expelled from our nation. Just last week, House Republicans held a congressional hearing to fan the flames of hate against American Muslims, their houses of worship and even Muslim school children.

“Time and time again, we have seen that hate speech like this can lead to hate crimes. The mass shooters who massacred families at the Christchurch mosques in New Zealand and worshipers at a mosque in Quebec all embraced the rhetoric of prominent anti-Muslim extremists.