Mansour Kaziha was the mosque’s shopkeeper known for letting children take candy for free. Nadir Awad was funny, cheerful and regularly went to the mosque to pray. And Amin Abdullah was a dedicated security guard who greeted people with a bright smile and the occasional sage life advice.

Until recently, all three men were best known for small, everyday interactions at the Islamic Center of San Diego.

But after the harrowing attack on Monday, they are now remembered for their larger-than-life acts of courage, which cost them their lives but prevented two gunmen from coming into contact with the some hundred children and staff who were inside the mosque.

“At no point [were they] hiding or running away from what’s happening,” Ghouse Mohammed, the center’s head of security, told NPR. “All three of them were heroes.”

In the aftermath, community members have united in grief and gratitude for Abdullah, Kaziha and Awad — as well as brewing frustration over how factors like anti-Muslim rhetoric both online and among elected officials led to Monday’s act of violence.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mark Remily, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego field office, described the two shooting suspects as teenagers who shared a “broad hatred” toward different races and religious groups.

“We are thoroughly investigating this case to learn everything we can and will not stop until we get to the bottom of what happened and why,” Remily said. “But we also want to learn how this happened and what we can do to stop future acts of violence.”

What we know about the victims 

Last week, when Amin Abdullah’s daughter Hawaa earned her teaching credential, she said her father couldn’t make it because he was at work.

Hawaa didn’t hold it against the father of eight. Instead, she shared this anecdote at a news press conference on Tuesday as one example of how seriously her father took his job as a security guard. Other times, she said Abdullah would forego meals in order to stay at his post.

“ He wanted to save his food till after he left the job because he was afraid that if he went on his break, something bad would happen,” she said. “ He would be so vigilant in protecting the masjid, protecting the children.”

In part, Abdullah, 51, was protective by nature. But he was also shaken by the mass shooting at a New Zealand mosque in 2019, which killed 51 people, according to Ismahan Abdullahi, who grew up attending the San Diego mosque.

“ The fact that so many lives were saved because of him is not a surprise to us because that’s who he was,” she told NPR. “ He was courageous, he was sincere, he was loving, and he always put other people first, and it cost him his life.”

Mansour Kaziha had been a fixture at the Islamic Center of San Diego since the 1980s, according to Mohammed, the head of the mosque’s security. From then on, Kaziha continued to be the mosque’s handyman. The 78-year-old also managed the center’s store, often striking up conversations with customers.

“ Every child who grew in the San Diego community since the ’80s know him as uncle,” Mohammed said.

Kaziha was also known for feeding hundreds during iftar when worshippers would break their first fast during Ramadan. His lentil soup was a crowd favorite, according to Noor Abdi, a youth leader at Huda Community Center in San Diego, who grew up eating Kaziha’s cooking during Ramadan.

“ He has done so much. I can’t name the amount of things that he has his fingerprints on, and we have lost a pillar of this center,” Abdi said.

Nadir Awad, 57, lived across the street and his wife is a teacher at the school inside the center. Mohammed described him as having a “very charming personality, always smiling, always laughing.”

Although Awad didn’t have an official role at the mosque, he responded without hesitation on Monday, Mohammed said.

“ When he heard the first rounds, he just ran towards the Islamic Center to check on what’s going on and how he’s able to help,” the security chief said.

Mosque saw growing number of threats

According to Mohammed — who has overseen security at the mosque for 13 years — threats toward the mosque have increased since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and Israel’s war in Gaza. In response to Monday’s shooting, Mohammed said he hopes to see increased patrols and greater police presence at all houses of worship.

Religion

Anti-Muslim bias reports skyrocket after Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel

“Because we all are vulnerable,” he said. “ And we don’t want … this to happen anywhere, to any community, any faith-based organizations.”

Mohammed said the Islamic Center increased its security and began arming its officers after the 2019 attack in New Zealand. Abdullah was among the new guards who joined afterwards.

Mohammed added that the mosque has practiced active shooter drills before, but mainly in the case of a single gunman, not two.

As he grieves losing Abdullah, who he described as a close friend and colleague, Mohammed said he reviewed the surveillance footage from the shooting and that Abdullah responded exactly how he was trained.

“We did our best with protecting this place,” he said.