Slain Security Guard of California Mosque Engaged Gunmen in Shootout, Hailed as Hero

Slain Security Guard of California Mosque Engaged Gunmen in Shootout, Hailed as Hero
A video monitor shows images of Mansour Kaziha, security guard Amin Abdullah, also known to friends as Brian Climax and Nadir Awad, who were killed during a shooting attack at the Islamic Centre of San Diego, during a news conference at police headquarters in San Diego, Calif., on May 19, 2026. Arafat Barbakh/Reuters
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SAN DIEGO—The security guard slain at the Islamic Center of San Diego was hailed on Tuesday as a fallen hero who sacrificed his life to keep 140 school children inside the mosque safe by engaging two gunmen in a shootout that deterred the teenage suspects and helped thwart their attack.

Authorities also disclosed that the 17- and 18-year-old assailants, who took their own lives shortly after Monday’s shooting, were believed to have met online and were apparently “radicalized” in hate-related ideology on the internet.