The San Diego Islamic Center, usually a busy place for worship, school, and cultural activity, is cordoned off with crime scene tape after a violent attack. Bouquets and notes have been left outside the mosque gates as the community mourns. The center serves congregants from across the globe, including many immigrants from Gaza and other conflict-affected regions. For worshippers, the mosque has represented peace, community, and belonging in America. On Monday, a security guard, a longtime employee, and the husband of a teacher were slain while trying to stop two teenage shooters. The attack left children hiding in classrooms and has intensified grief, denial, and anger tied to anti-Muslim hate.
"The San Diego Islamic Center is typically a bustling crossroads, with kids in school, the faithful coming to pray and others simply taking part in cultural activity. But these days, the site is busy for another, much darker reason. The community is mourning. An ever-growing pile of bouquets of lilies, daisies and sunflowers and notes sits at the base of a large palm tree outside the mosque gates."
"That sense of security was shattered Monday, when three people - a security guard, a longtime mosque employee and the husband of a teacher - were slain as they tried to prevent two teenage shooters from killing others, including dozens of children hiding in classrooms."
"Many congregants are still in a state of denial that the center - a place where they felt so safe - so quickly became the scene of violence and tragedy. There's also a simmering anger over anti-Muslim hate that has been embraced - and perpetuated - by some of the highest-ranking elected officials in the country."
""We are aware of what's happening around the world, around the nation, the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment, the rise of anti-every type of minority sentiment, but we never expected such things to happen," Imam Taha Hassane told The Times."
Read at Los Angeles Times
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