Students who were trapped inside the Islamic Center of San Diego as two gunmen attempted to carry out a mass shooting showed a remarkable level of bravery during the incident.
The incident occurred on Monday when two men opened fire outside the school.
From NBC News:
Authorities have said the three people gunned down at the mosque, described on its website as San Diego County’s largest, were all outside. No one who was inside the center at the time — including dozens of students attending school — was injured, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl has said.
One of the victims, security guard Amin Abdullah, fired at the teens when they sought to enter the mosque. He then used his radio to trigger a lockdown protocol, Wahl told reporters.
An imam at the mosque, Taha Hassane, said the center practices the lockdown drills multiple times every school year. Abdullah, he said, had been with the mosque for several years and knew about the system, which notifies teachers in their classrooms about active shooters
Abdullah’s actions saved the lives of many inside the building. Unfortunately, he was killed during the gunfight with the two men. Wahl said he “delayed, distracted and ultimately deterred” the shooters from entering the mosque, where about 140 kids were located.
As soon as Imani heard the gunfire, she recalled, she looked at a colleague, and they immediately knew what was happening.
“We told the kids this is not a shooting drill,” she said. “There is an active shooter, and let’s go.”
The students did as they had done in practice drills, she said, filing into a corner of the classroom, staying low to avoid windows and making sure the doors were shut and locked.
The students remained silent, even as they could hear the shooters banging on doors and trying to open them, she said.
“We are just so proud of them and their bravery,” Imani said, adding: “They held it together.”
The two teenage suspects in the shooting appear to have been influenced by online extremist spaces, according to NBC News. The individuals wrote a 75-page manifesto in which they expressed neo-Nazi ideas, racism, misogyny, and hateful sentiments toward multiple groups.
The authorities identified the suspects as Caleb Vazquez and Cain Clark and said they likely met online. They reported that the two suspects committed suicide shortly after the shooting. Investigators are also looking into whether they livestreamed the assault using body cameras.
Internet culture has radicalized many, driving them to acts of violence. Several mass shootings have involved people who fell into extremism after interacting with fringe elements on dark corners of the internet. Experts said the suspects’ writings combine white supremacist beliefs, anti-Jewish bigotry, incel rage, and accelerationism, which is the notion that violence can bring about social collapse and the rise of a white ethnostate.