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<\/a><\/p>\nMultiple people were killed, including an armed security guard, after two shooters entered the Islamic Center in San Diego, May 18, 2026. (Sandy Huffaker \/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Police in San Diego said they are investigating the attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego as a hate crime. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said two teenagers, ages 17 and 19, who appeared to have carried out the attack were found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a car nearby.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are heartbroken by today\u2019s attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego. Islamophobia has no place in California or anywhere in this country,\u201d Jesse Gabriel, chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, said in a statement. He added, \u201cWe are committed to working with our colleagues to strengthen protections for houses of worship and combat hate-motivated violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attack, which occurred at about 12:30 p.m. local time, sent five area schools into lockdown, including a Hebrew charter school.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re safe and we\u2019re following the direction of the police,\u201d a representative for Kavod Hebrew Charter School told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency by phone on Monday afternoon. Kavod is a non-religious bilingual K-8 school that employs a number of Jewish and Israeli educators.<\/p>\n
A synagogue that houses a school in an adjacent neighborhood also said it was briefly locked down in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.<\/p>\n
The mosque attack comes two months after a man rammed an explosives-laden truck into one of the largest synagogues in the United States, Temple Israel in Michigan. There, the synagogue\u2019s robust security training was credited with halting the attack. Children were inside the adjacent preschool at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe images coming from San Diego are all too familiar to us,\u201d Temple Israel said in a message to its community that it posted to social media. It said that one of its rabbis, Jen Lader, was in Washington, D.C., to lobby for $1 billion in federal security funding for houses of worship.<\/p>\n
Jewish Federations of North America said it had more than 400 local Jewish leaders in Washington to lobby for the security funding, which it said was necessary to protect religious communities from threats that are \u201creal, urgent, and growing.\u201d The $1 billion ask is a centerpiece of JFNA\u2019s response to growing security concerns and would represent more than a doubling of federal spending on security needs for houses of worship.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo anyone who feels this is excessive, what happened to Temple Israel two months ago, and now, the Islamic Center of San Diego, proves that it is not optional funding,\u201d Temple Israel said. \u201cEvery dollar will be necessary to protect houses of worship all over the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Imam Taha Hassane of the Islamic Center of San Diego, which includes a mosque and the adjacent Al Rashid School, said teachers, students and school staff were safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this moment, all that I can say is sending our prayers and standing in solidarity with all the families in our community here, and also the other mosques and all the places of worship in our beautiful city,\u201d Hassane said during a press conference Monday afternoon. \u201cThey should always be protected. It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship. Our Islamic Center is a place of worship. People come to the Islamic Center to pray, to celebrate, to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Law enforcement across the country are tightening security measures in response to the attack in San Diego.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile there is currently no known nexus to NYC or specific threats to NYC houses of worship, out of an abundance of caution, the NYPD is increasing deployments to mosques across the city,\u201d the New York Police Department said in a statement.<\/p>\n