Jewish groups denounced a May 18 fatal shooting at a mosque in San Diego in which three people, including a security guard, were killed. They are also saying the incident, which follows attacks on synagogues in Mississippi and Michigan, underscores a need for more federal funding for security at houses of worship.
The attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego was carried out by two teenagers, ages 17 and 19. They were found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a car nearby.
“We are heartbroken by today’s attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego. Islamophobia has no place in California or anywhere in this country,” Jesse Gabriel, chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, said.
Imam Taha Hassane of the Islamic Center, which includes a mosque and the adjacent Al Rashid School, said at a press conference the afternnon of the shooting:
“At 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. They 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.”
The attack, which occurred at about 12:30 p.m. local time, sent five area schools into lockdown, including a Hebrew charter school.
“We’re safe and we’re following the direction of the police,” a representative for Kavod Hebrew Charter School said the afternoon of the shooting.
Kavod is a non-religious bilingual K-8 school that employs a number of Jewish and Israeli educators.
A synagogue that houses a school in an adjacent neighborhood also said it was briefly locked down in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
The mosque attack comes two months after a man rammed an explosives-laden truck into one of the largest synagogues in the US, Temple Israel in Michigan. There, the synagogue’s robust security training was credited with halting the attack. Children were inside the adjacent preschool at the time.
Temple Israel said that one of its rabbis, Jen Lader, was in Washington, DC, to lobby for $1 billion in federal security funding for houses of worship.
JFNA said it had more than 400 local Jewish leaders in Washington to lobby for the security funding.
The $1 billion ask would represent more than a doubling of federal spending on security needs for houses of worship.
In late April, Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City would have vetoed a bill that creates a buffer zone around houses of worship were it not for a veto-proof majority of 44 tof 51 NYC City Council members voting for the bill.
Mamdani did veto a bill that would have created a security perimeters around educational institutions that prevent physical obstruction, physical injury, intimidation and inteference, while preserving and protecting the rights oto free speech, assembly and protest. It passed by a strong majority — 30-19 — but not veto proof.
The text of the two bills is nearly identical.
Law enforcement across the country are tightening security measures in response to the attack in San Diego.
“While 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,” the New York Police Dept. said in a statement.
JNS contributed to this story
