Teacher’s assistant at San Diego mosque recalls students’ bravery as gunmen banged on doors

Guns in AmericaTeacher’s assistant at San Diego mosque recalls students’ bravery as gunmen banged on doorsAs soon as they heard gunfire, the students “went straight to business,” the teacher’s assistant said. “They held it together.”Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Three people were killed, including an armed security guard, after two shooters entered the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday and opened fire.Sandy Huffaker / Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 20, 2026, 8:19 PM EDTBy Morgan Chesky and Tim StellohSAN DIEGO — Like schools across the U.S., the Islamic Center of San Diego had sought to prepare its students for the possibility that a gunman could breach its walls.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.When two armed teenagers stormed the mosque Monday — and those “active shooter” drills were put to the test — the young students in one classroom did exactly as they had practiced and “went straight to business,” their teacher’s assistant told NBC News. “If they didn’t, then this could have been a different outcome,” said the assistant, Imani, who teaches second and third graders and asked to go by her first name.Authorities have said the three people gunned down at the mosque, described on its website as San Diego County’s largest, were all outside. No one who was inside the center at the time — including dozens of students attending school — was injured, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl has said.One of the victims, security guard Amin Abdullah, fired at the teens when they sought to enter the mosque. He then used his radio to trigger a lockdown protocol, Wahl told reporters. An imam at the mosque, Taha Hassane, said the center practices the lockdown drills multiple times every school year. Abdullah, he said, had been with the mosque for several years and knew about the system, which notifies teachers in their classrooms about active shooters. Poli...