Boy, nine, recounts deadly shooting at San Diego mosque: ‘We saw a bunch of bad stuff’ | San Diego

A nine-year-old boy said he witnessed the deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday, saying he “saw bad things” and hid in a closet during the attack.

Odai Shanah, whose mother moved from Gaza to Southern California two decades ago, said: Reuters He said he heard gunshots coming from outside the walls of the mosque complex, which also houses an Islamic day school.

He said he was among dozens of children forced to gather in classrooms when deadly gunfire erupted at the mosque.

Odai said he and his classmates were shaking with fear when 12 to 16 more shots rang out after they were quickly taken to the closet and huddled together there.

The boy said that after the shooting stopped, he and his friends heard members of the special tactics police team yelling from outside the classroom, “‘Okay, open’ — then they opened the door.”

But Odai said “we saw a lot of bad things, people lying down and yeah, bad things” as they were being escorted out of the building. He acknowledged that he and other children saw the bodies coming out in a “big line” with their hands up.

“My legs were shaking, my hands and head hurt so much,” he said. “I felt like a rock”

Odai told Reuters about the shooting after his family gave permission.

It was a stark reminder of how young people in the United States are disproportionately affected — directly or indirectly — by gun violence, the nation’s leading cause of death for teens and young children.

Police said three adults affiliated with the Islamic Center were killed during the attack, including a security guard, who authorities said played a crucial role in limiting the death toll.

The security guard was identified by many of his friends as Amin Abdullah. One of the friends, journalist Kashif-ul-Huda, wrote He said on Al Jazeera’s website that he was “not surprised” by Abdullah’s defense of those in the mosque, saying that he was always “a man who wanted to protect others.”

“It was a great joy to see him fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a security guard,” Huda wrote, adding that his friend “was martyred defending the mosque.”

Huda continued: “Amin, which means ‘trustworthy’, lived up to his name and died doing what he loved.” The writer said his friend was born Muslim to an African-American mother and was therefore “as American as can be.”

“He was as Muslim as can be.”

Both attackers, aged 17 and 18, were also killed in the shootout, apparently killing themselves in a stolen car they used to drive them to the site of the attack.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said Monday that the attack was being investigated as a hate crime and that the mother of one of the suspects found a note.

“It was definitely hate speech at this point,” he said. “There was generalized hate speech and rhetoric” but no specific threats were made “to any facility or any location,” he said.