Seattle-area Muslim community reeling after San Diego mosque shooting
The shooting at San Diego's largest mosque has left many in the Seattle region's Muslim community, long on edge, feeling heartbroken and horrified.
Three people were killed Monday in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego that police are investigating as a hate crime. The two teenagers suspected of carrying out the shooting were later found dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds, police said.
"I'm very shaken up by this," said Port of Seattle Commissioner Hamdi Mohamed. Just days ago, Mohamed was in San Diego visiting her sister, who lives a five-minute walk from the mosque. Both of Mohamed's nieces attended the Arabic language and Islamic studies school on the center's campus.
"My parents go to every Eid prayers at that mosque, my siblings attend the mosque for Friday prayers," she continued. "It just feels very surreal when something like this hits close to home and you're having to check on your family during a mass casualty situation."
On Tuesday, police released the names of the three victims in the attack: Amin Abdullah, Nader Awad and Mansour Kaziha. Police and community members say Abdullah, a security guard who worked at the mosque for more than a decade, acted quickly to prevent more deaths.
Federal authorities say they've found evidence the teenage suspects met online and shared a "broad hatred" toward different religions and races. The words "hate speech" were written on one of the guns used in the attack, The New York Times reported, and police found a gas can with Nazi SS insignia on it in the car where the suspects were found dead.
Anti-Muslim bias and discrimination has been a persistent issue in the U.S. for decades, ratcheting up after the Sept. 11 attacks, said Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of CAIR Washington, a Seattle-based chapter of the national Muslim civil rights advocacy group.
As someone who attends a mosque frequently, Siddiqi said "what-if" scenarios always run in the back of his mind.
"I'm sitting next to a window, what if someone throws a firebomb in the mosque, what if someone comes in while we're all praying and does a mass shooting and our backs are all turned," Siddiqi said.
CAIR received nearly 8,700 civil rights complaints nationwide last year, according to its most recent report, the most the group has ever recorded in a single year since its first civil rights reports covering 1996. In Washington, about 83% of Muslims experienced discrimination in the last year, according to a 2024 CAIR Washington report.
Acts of arson and vandalism have also hit the Seattle region's Muslim community over the years. Two separate fires destroyed Bellevue's Islamic Center of Eastside less than a decade ago, and the Islamic Center of Tacoma was set on fire in 2021.
The Muslim Association of Puget Sound, the largest Islamic center in Washington, headquartered in Redmond, saw its front sign smashed and vandalized twice in 2016, said Head Imam Adam Jamal. The mosque, which has had armed security for years, will increase safety measures in light of the San Diego shooting, he said.
Many in the local community were left particularly shaken after the 2019 New Zealand massacre, in which 51 people were killed and nearly 90 others were injured in mass shootings at two mosques.
"I think people see themselves in this moment, and they're wondering, ‘How can we be protected?' They're wondering if they should even come to the mosque," Jamal said.
Given the proliferation of anti-Muslim bigotry on social media platforms and online forums, and America's pervasive gun culture, Monday's attack is not surprising, Siddiqi said. The Trump administration has also ramped up its targeting of Muslim groups, he said, such as blocking some security grants aimed at preventing hate crimes and extremist attacks. That raises concerns about how mosques and other Muslim institutions will shore up safety efforts, Siddiqi said.
President Donald Trump's divisive language and dehumanizing rhetoric threatens all religious groups, not just the Muslim community, Mohamed said.
"No mosque, no church, no synagogue, no temple, no school, should ever become a place of fear," she said. "When hate and division go unchecked, communities suffer."
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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 1:13 PM.