Hawaa Abdullah spoke surrounded by sobbing family members a day after her father’s death. She recalled his dedication to others.Show Caption
The daughter of a man killed in an attack on San Diego’s largest mosque spoke out about her father Tuesday evening, recalling his dedication as a parent and his resolve to do his duty as a security guard."He was my protector," said Hawaa Abdullah, the daughter of Amin Abdullah, a security guard who was one of three men slain in the May 18 shooting attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego. "He would stop whatever he was doing to make sure I was safe."Authorities credit Amin Abdullah, a father of eight, with confronting the gunmen when they barged into the center on Monday. Imam Taha Hassane, the director of the Islamic center, told reporters that Abdullah's bravery saved as many as 140 children at the mosque's school.The suspected gunmen, ages 17 and 18, were found dead of what police described as self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Authorities have not identified the suspects as of May 19. Police said the shooting would be investigated as a hate crime.San Diego Muslim community members spoke at a park near the Islamic center the afternoon of May 19, recalling the "three heroes" who were killed: Abdullah, nearby resident Nadir Awad, and center staffer Mansour Kazlha.Abdullah’s daughter spoke about her father as a man who was passionate about education and dreamed of his children becoming scholars. He pushed his daughter to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher.He only missed seeing his daughter earn her certificate because he felt he could not miss a shift at the Islamic center, said Abdullah, surrounded by sobbing family members. The security guard joined the center staff in 2019 after the attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 people."He took his job seriously," she said, adding her father would skip meals at work "because he was afraid that if he was on his break, something bad would happen."According to San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl, Abdullah began shooting at the suspects after they rushed past the security checkpoint at the mosque shortly before noon on May 18. Amid the gun battle, Abdullah radioed the center’s teachers to lock their doors. Wahl said Abdullah continued firing at the suspects before he was shot and killed outside the mosque. Meanwhile, teachers moved children into hiding places. By the time the shooters entered the building, the rooms they walked into were completely empty, the police chief said.Awad and Kazih were shot and killed outside the building before the two suspects fled the scene, police said."They saved our community, they saved our mosque, they saved our school, they saved lives," Saad Eldegwy, a local imam, said of the three men. "Without these three heroes on the scene, sacrificing their lives, it would have been worse."Kazih "was one of the main pillars of this community and this mosque, whom I’ve known more than 25 years," Eldegwy said. "I cannot imagine entering the mosque without seeing him, walking and serving the community in all ways that he could."Many of the speakers Tuesday denounced anti-Islamic rhetoric they said led to the attack. "In times that we have normalized the dehumanization of Muslims both abroad and here as well, and where we have criminalized both the faith and the political speeches of our community, this is a moment of reckoning," said the school’s math director Ismahan Abdullahi, her voice breaking with emotion. "We have to ask ourselves what kind of nation do we want to be, because the kind of nation that I want is a nation where I don’t have to hear the children of our beloved community members cry because they lost their father."Contributing by Christopher Cann and Will Carless
