Published: 12:21 AM, 20 May 2026
Shooting in San Diego leaves Bangladeshis gripped by fear
The thousands of Bangladeshi expatriates who call the USA's San Diego home are grappling with unprecedented anxiety and grief after a deadly, hate-motivated shooting outside a major mosque and Islamic school. The attack took place on Monday at the Islamic Center of San Diego,shattering the long-held sense of security felt by the local Muslim community.
Adding to the horror, the shooting took place while classes were under way at the Al Rashid School, located within the mosque compound -- leaving children trapped in a nightmare.
For hours, panicked parents waited in agony as aerial television footage broadcast images of more than a dozen young children, holding hands under heavy police escort, being evacuated past scores of tactical police vehicles.
"Everyone is absolutely terrified by the suddenness of it all," Mohammad Alam Panna, a Bangladeshi writer residing near the mosque, told bdnews24.com over the telephone.
"The Al Rashid School was in session when the gunfire broke out. American-born Bangladeshi children were inside those classrooms for their English and Arabic lessons. While we are profoundly relieved that no Bangladeshi casualties have been reported, the sheer trauma of what could have happened has left the community deeply shaken."
The Al Rashid School is a vital educational hub approved by the local department of education, where many Bangladeshi-American children learn Arabic and Quranic studies alongside their standard curriculum.
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The violence was unleashed by two teenagers, aged 17 and 18, clad in camouflage gear and armed with a cache of weapons taken from home.
San Diego Police chief Scott Wahl revealed that the mother of one of the boys had called police two hours prior, warning that her suicidal son had run off with three guns.
Police scrambled to secure nearby schools and malls, but gunshots soon rang out from the mosque.
The slaughter was cut short by the heroic intervention of an armed mosque security guard, who police say played a "pivotal role" in confronting the attackers and preventing a much larger catastrophe before losing his life.
Two school staff members were also killed in the ambush.
The teen attackers later died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds inside a getaway vehicle a few blocks away.
Local authorities confirmed that no Bangladeshi nationals were harmed.
As the community faces the grim reality of a targeted hate crime on their doorstep, the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha festive season has been overshadowed by dread.
Expressing the collective anguish of his congregation, the director and Imam of the Islamic Center, Taha Hassan, said: "We have never experienced anything so tragic. To target a place of worship, a sanctuary of peace, is an act of utter horror."
