(Photo: Reuters)
Three men were killed when gunmen entered a San Diego mosque on Monday and opened fire.
The gunmen, aged 17 and 19, were found dead in a car nearby, apparently from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
At least one of the three victims at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in San Diego County, was a security guard.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said the guard in the line of fire appears to have helped stop the attackers from carrying out a deadlier mass shooting.
“One of the dead is a security guard who works there, and I think he played a major role in helping make this a lot worse,” the chief said.
Armed officers who arrived at the mosque found the bodies of the three victims lying outside.
Only later did it become clear that the suspects had fled the scene and were dead in a nearby car.
The campus includes Al Rashid Schoolwhich the website says offers courses in Arabic, Islamic studies and the Koran.
A spokesman for the Islamic Center of San Diego said a class was in progress at the school at the time of the shooting Monday, but all teachers and children “were safe.”
Aerial television footage showed more than a dozen children holding hands and walking out of the center’s parking lot, which is surrounded by dozens of police vehicles.
The White Mosque is in a neighborhood of houses, apartments and shopping centers with Middle Eastern restaurants and markets.
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