AMY GOODMAN: In California, two teenage gunmen fatally shot three people on Monday at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in San Diego County. Among the dead was a security guard, now identified as Amin Abdullah, a father of eight, who police say played a pivotal role in saving lives, particularly children’s lives. The suspects, aged 17 and 19, were found dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a car near the scene.

Police are investigating the attack as a hate crime. Law enforcement officials told CNN hate speech was scrawled on one of the weapons. A suicide note that contained writings about racial pride was also found, according to officials. CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, noted the attack comes as anti-Muslim bias complaints reached their highest level on record, with 8,683 complaints filed nationwide.

This is Taha Hassane, the imam and director of the Islamic Center of San Diego.

TAHA HASSANE: My community is mourning. This is something that we have never expected to take place. But at the same time, the religious intolerance and the hate, unfortunately, that exists in our nation is unprecedented. All of us, we are responsible for spreading the culture of tolerance, the culture of love. All of us, we are responsible, from whatever position we have, as parents, as media people, as elected officials, as law enforcement, as religious leaders. All of us, we can do something to protect our nation, to protect our society.

And, please, I have one request to the media: Stop sharing the picture of the victims. Let the families mourn. Let them pray, as we do always at the Islamic Center of San Diego. It’s a house of worship; it’s not a battlefield. Come on. People come to the mosque to pray, to socialize, to celebrate, to enjoy their time together. Muslims and non-Muslims alike, everyone, have been always welcomed. Our doors are always welcomed. We never ask people — when they show up at the door of the Islamic Center, we never ask them whether you are Muslim or not, “Who are you?” because everyone is welcome. So, let’s do our best to spread this culture of love and tolerance and sympathy, for the sake of this nation, for the sake of the future generation.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Taha Hassane, the imam and director of the Islamic Center of San Diego, attacked on Monday. Police said they had begun a search for the two teenage gunmen two hours before the attack, after the mother of one of the shooters called police. This is San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl.

SCOTT WAHL: She believed her son was suicidal, and she began to share information that several of her weapons were missing, her vehicle was missing, in addition to her son. She also said that she was — her son was with a companion and that they were dressed in camo. And that is not consistent with what we would typically see from somebody that is suicidal.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s the San Diego police chief.

We’re joined now by Linda Sarsour, Palestinian American Muslim organizer, friend of the imam at the Islamic Center of San Diego, author of We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders and co-founder of MPower Action Fund.

Linda, thanks so much for joining us again, but under these incredibly sad circumstances. The guard has just been named, who was killed by the gunmen, the gunmen themselves apparently dead of self-inflicted wounds. Can you talk about what you heard yesterday and your reaction as it was unfolding? You’re a friend of the imam.

LINDA SARSOUR: I immediately saw a tweet on X that said that there was a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, and I immediately texted Imam Taha Hassane, who’s an old friend of mine, and I said, “Are you OK?” And he immediately called me back and said that “We are in a lockdown right now. There has been an active shooting.” At that moment, he had not known about all the fatalities, but they did know about Brother Amin Abdullah, who was the armed security guard of the mosque and a father of eight and a wonderful, incredible human being that I also had the honor and privilege of meeting myself.

There are also two other adult males that were also killed in the shooting. One of them is Brother Mansour, also known as Abuliz. He is an elder, a caretaker of the mosque, also was running the Islamic bookstore at the mosque, and just a beloved kind of uncle in the community. Another one is Brother Nader. Brother Nader is a neighbor of the mosque, a congregant, someone who was heavily involved in the mosque itself. It’s just a very devastating experience.

There was also over about 200 kids in a pre-K to third grade Islamic school that is a part of the Islamic Center of San Diego, who were also on lockdown, hiding under — excuse me — hiding under desks and closets. And if it wasn’t for Brother Amin Abdullah and these brothers that came out to put their bodies on the line, we could have had many more fatalities, and many of them could have been small children in this country. So, even though the children are safe, thank God, they are forever going to live with this trauma of knowing that their mosque was attacked because they were Muslims.

AMY GOODMAN: I was watching as parents wept, also talking about how Amin had saved their children, that the kids, the first thing they look forward to, going to school in the morning, is seeing him there.

LINDA SARSOUR: That’s right. That’s who he was. And this was his job. As a matter of fact, a few days before this horrific shooting, he had made a post on social media, on Facebook, and said something like, a lot of people look for fame, they look for financial stability, they look kind of for the worldly things, but for him, he just wanted to be a good Muslim, and he wanted to meet his Lord as pure as he was when he was a baby. And that is his last message that people saw on social media.

Imam Taha also, the director of the Islamic Center, who was in the building when this happened — he was on the second floor — is an incredible ally. He’s someone who is very well known in the immigrant rights movement, in the San Diego economic justice movement. He’s often at many rallies.

This is a mosque that has opened its doors to the community. They literally have open mosque day, where anyone in the community can show up to the mosque, and they are opened — they are welcomed with open arms. And they have film screenings. They do, like, community events. They do festivals. Like, this is the epitome of a mosque that shows our true values as Muslims, in community and in solidarity. So, it’s just devastating, and no house of worship should have to ever experience this.

AMY GOODMAN: You were with Imam Taha Hassane just a few weeks ago?

LINDA SARSOUR: Mm-hmm. Imam Taha is a national leader. He is part of many of the movement work that I do. He’s someone that we go to as an Islamic scholar to help guide us through the social justice and work that we do. And we were in Dearborn just, you know, a few weeks ago. He was there as a mentor to many Muslim organizers in this country. And he’s someone that I’ve spoken on many panels with. We do the Muslim Student Association conference in California. Just someone who’s always at the right place at the right time and very encouraging of women leadership in our community, of youth leadership in our community. And so, it’s just devastating to see that his mosque was targeted, as someone who has poured so much into our community and movements.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what you understand? The mom of one of the alleged shooters — Cain Clark was, I believe, 17. He was with Caleb Vazquez. These two now-dead teenagers have been identified. How the mom got in touch with the police hours before — I think she had a cache of weapons, but she saw her guns gone and her car gone, and her kid was dressed in camo with the ammo. And as the mayor — as the police chief said, even though he had left a suicide note, that is highly suspect when they’re putting on camo, obviously.

LINDA SARSOUR: I mean, we can’t deny, Amy, that there’s been increased political rhetoric against Muslims in this country, and the ways in which Muslims are treated. Even after this horrific shooting, right-wing MAGA accounts, some of them verified, some of them high-profile, have begun conspiracy theories or have actually blamed the mosque itself for their own shooting that happened there. It is absolutely horrific to see the ways in which elected officials, anywhere from Randy Fine to the members of Congress who have started this, what they call the Sharia-Free Caucus — people are not held accountable for their anti-Muslim hate. We are — anti-Muslim hate is one of the few types of bigotry in this country that is acceptable. You don’t lose your job. There’s no consequences for it.

And here comes a 17-year-old who is probably brought into all this propaganda. He’s wrote a suicide note. The officials are saying that there was hate rhetoric scrolled on the weapons, which also tells me how long were — how long were your guns missing? How long did it take him to scroll, you know, hateful rhetoric on guns? Also, how is the mother storing her guns? You know, did you just leave them around? Was there no key? Was there no way for this to be protected, so that your child does not go out and kill innocent people at a mosque? So, there’s something very, you know, strange that’s happening here.

But I will say this about the 17-year-old, and also a 19-year-old. I’m sad, Amy, for them. I really am sad. They’re too young for this type of hate, and the fact that it drove them to the point where they went to a mosque and they shot innocent people, and could have shot children, I mean, the fact that there’s an Islamic school. If it wasn’t for Brother Amin and the brothers that interfered, we literally could have had dozens of children who would have been literally shot and killed. And the thing is, we’ve seen this before. We saw it — we saw it in Sandy Hook. We saw it in Uvalde.

And so, for me, I’m just like, it’s an issue around let’s end this anti-Muslim hate. Let’s make sure that there are consequences for people who propagate this hate, for media outlets who propagate this hate. And also, let’s get some sensible gun reform. How did this mother get the — were they registered guns? How was she storing them at home? How did your son wear — where did your son get camo from? Like, wearing — I mean, the whole thing just is just — it just seems like — it just doesn’t make sense.

AMY GOODMAN: During a televised news conference on Monday, a woman disrupted the news conference just as San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria was beginning to speak. She accused him of emboldening what she called Zionist propaganda.

MAYOR TODD GLORIA: Thank you.

PROTESTER 1: This is a direct result of your leadership! Your leadership! Our Muslim brothers and sisters have been talking to you. For how long? You have the [bleep] listen to them, Todd. Just like you did with ICE! You emboldened ICE!

PROTESTER 2: It’s Trump! It’s Trump hate speech! It’s Trump hate speech!

PROTESTER 1: You emboldened Zionist propaganda! And you’ll keep doing it as long as it lines your [bleep] pockets!

AMY GOODMAN: So, after that, the mayor began speaking. But she referred to him as Todd, which was his first name. Linda Sarsour, I don’t know if you could make out what she was saying, but if you could respond?

LINDA SARSOUR: She was saying, basically, to him that this is — that you’re part of the problem, that this is because you’ve emboldened this hateful rhetoric. Like, she was basically holding him accountable. Mayor Todd, in the course of genocide, has condemned Palestinian organizers. He condemned Palestinian students. He would never show up to any events led by Palestinian American or Muslims that were related to the genocide in Gaza. And he continued to vilify folks that organized around the genocide. And he is someone who has aligned himself with right-wing Zionists and others.

So, I think, again, who you ally with as a leader of a city — right? — like San Diego, tells me where you stand. If you’re going to be willing to stand with people who are condemning, vilifying, dehumanizing people who are standing up for justice for the Palestinian people, then you’re part of a larger problem that we have here, which is reaffirming anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab hate. You know this, Amy. In this country, people don’t know the difference between a Muslim, Arab or a Palestinian. And that’s the problem here. And so, all these things are conflated.

In the past, this mosque has been targeted during genocide by right-wing media. There was a New York Post article, that just literally got published yesterday after a horrific shooting, that basically said the shooting that happened at an Islamic center “with a history of controversy” — like, instead of reporting the news, they’re telling us that there’s a controversial mosque here. What does that have to do with what is happening to these people?

AMY GOODMAN: The far-right political activist, Trump ally Laura Loomer posted a message on X on Monday, reading, “The mosque that was [quote-unquote] 'supposedly' shot up today. Just remember the people who attend this mosque want us all to be killed. We will be told they are such amazing people. I’m not advocating for violence. I condemn violence. I am showing you how evil this mosque is and always has been. It should be raided by ICE and the FBI,” she tweeted. In a follow-up tweet, Laura Loomer called for the DHS to, quote, “deport every Muslim in America back to the Middle East,” unquote. Your response, Linda?

LINDA SARSOUR: And this is exactly what’s across the entire internet. That’s it. This is the conspiracy theories blaming us for the tragic and horrific shooting that has happened at this mosque. And this is the kind of rhetoric that’s acceptable. No one else, Amy, would be able to say something like Laura Loomer about any other religious community. Again, for us, it’s acceptable. Her posts won’t get taken down. There will be no consequences for a Laura Loomer.

But here we have three adult men, beloved in their community, in an incredible mosque, where their neighbors love them. There are people that have come out and spoken about them — pastors, rabbis, those that have visited this mosque and know that this mosque is a community center. It’s a beloved place. I’ve been there so many times, Amy. It’s so incredible. It’s one of the most diverse mosques in all of America, from the African continent, from South Asia, from the Arab world, from converts in the United States of America, to Latino Muslims. They have Spanish-speaking programs. I mean, it’s just an incredibly beautiful place. They welcome the formerly incarcerated. This is the kind of people that they are. Imam Taha is one of the most incredible leaders we have in this country. And it’s just despicable that we allow this kind of rhetoric, especially after a horrific shooting.

AMY GOODMAN: Linda Sarsour, Palestinian American Muslim organizer, author of We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders. She’s also co-founder of Mpower Action Fund.

Coming up, a new documentary on E. Jean Carroll. She successfully sued Donald Trump twice in federal court. He was found civilly liable for sexual abuse and defamation. We’ll speak with the director, Ivy Meeropol. Stay with us.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: “Femmes du Monde,” “Women of the World,” by Amadou & Mariam in our Democracy Now! studio.