A heroic husband trying to save his wife and a beloved caretaker have been identified as additional victims of the San Diego mosque massacre.
Nader Awad, 57, died while trying to rush two teenage gunmen who opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego, where his wife was inside on Monday.
He was killed alongside beloved mosque worker Mansoor Kaziha and security guard Amin Abdullah, who was identified yesterday, before the shooters took their own lives.
Awad was at home across the street from the mosque when he heard gunfire and heroically ‘ran toward it’ to try and prevent the tragedy, according to a fundraiser set up for his family.
Awad’s wife was teaching at a school inside the Islamic center at the time and he bravely raced toward the attackers – named by police as Cain Clark, 17 and Caleb Vazquez, 18.
Kaziha, who was known as Abu El Ezz, was described in a separate fundraiser as a devoted staff member at the Islamic center who worked at the facility’s store ever since it had been established in 1989.
His loved ones described him as ‘the heart and caretaker of our community.’
San Diego police said Clark and Vazquez stole a vehicle and several weapons from Clark’s mother and opened fire at the mosque before also shooting at a nearby landscaper who escaped without serious injury.

Nader Awad, 57, tragically lost his life after he ran towards two teenage shooters who opened fire at a San Diego mosque with his wife inside on Monday, his family say

Mansour Kaziha, known as Abu El Ezz, a worker in the store at the Islamic Center of San Diego, was also killed in the horror shooting on Monday

Amin Abdullah, a father of eight, was killed by the teen shooters. Police praised Abdullah for ‘saving lives’ with his actions before he was tragically killed
Authorities said the two teenagers were found dead in a car several blocks away from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Awad’s loved ones praised his bravery in their fundraiser as they described his decision to confront the attackers.
‘Most people, hearing gunfire, run the other way. Nader ran toward it,’ the fundraiser read.
He then raced across the street directly toward the danger, encountering the teen shooters in hopes of saving those inside.
Awad, who was also a teacher at the Islamic center’s school, was shot dead outside the mosque before police arrived at the scene within minutes.
‘Nader’s last act on this earth was to run toward the people he loved – his wife, his students, his community – when they needed him most,’ his loved ones wrote.
Police said Abdullah, who was working as a security guard at the mosque, also bravely leapt into action when the shooting unfolded.
Abdullah, a father of eight, was hailed as a hero by San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl, who said he ‘minimized the situation’ and rescued many inside before he was killed.

Cain Clark, 17, was one of two teenagers who opened fire at a California mosque on Monday before taking his own life. Police named the other suspect as Caleb Vazquez, 18, who has not yet been pictured

Images from the scene showed a red gasoline canister with a sticker resembling a Nazi SS logo, as a shotgun lay nearby

Nader Awad, 57, was praised as a hero who ‘ran toward gunfire’ when the shooters targeted the mosque across the street from his home

Abu El Ezz worked in the mosque ever since it was founded, and he was described by his loved ones as ‘the heart and caretaker of our community’
‘His actions were heroic,’ Wahl said. ‘Undoubtedly, he saved lives today.’
Abu El Ezz was working at the mosque’s shop at the time when the teen shooters opened fire.
His loved ones wrote in a fundraiser that he was a fixture of the Islamic center for many years.
‘He took care of the logistics no one wanted to think about, so that everyone else could come in, pray, eat, learn, and go home without ever wondering how it all kept running,’ his family wrote.
‘It kept running because Mansoor kept running it.’
It comes as police say Clark left behind a hate-filled suicide note ‘about racial pride’ before he and Vazquez opened fire at the mosque.
Hours before the attack, Clark’s mother reported to police that her son was suicidal and potentially armed with weapons, and officers were already searching for the teenager when he opened fire.
The parent, who has not been named, said she realized several of her guns were missing, and said she saw him and a companion wearing ‘camouflage outfits’, Chief Scott Wahl said.
He added that although Clark’s mother warned cops that her weapons were missing, she did not indicate any kind of planned attack on the mosque.
‘There was no specific threat, especially no specific threat to the Islamic Center,’ the police chief said.
‘It was just general hate kind of speech that I think covered a wide gamut.’
Police said one of the weapons in the teen’s vehicle had ‘hate speech’ written on it, sources told the LA Times.
The outlet reported that when officers searched Clark’s home around two miles from the mosque, they discovered a suicide note ‘writing about racial pride.’
A gas canister emblazoned with a Nazi SS sticker on its side was seen next to the BMW X1, where the suspects were found dead, with a shotgun nearby.
Clark was enrolled in a virtual learning academy at the San Diego Unified School District and was set to graduate from high school this semester, officials said.
He was previously a star wrestler at Madison High School, but had only been attending classes online for some time, as officials said he had spiraled into ‘hate speech.’
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Authorities are now probing the shooting as a hate crime. An officer is seen at one of the shooting suspect’s homes on Monday evening

As many as 100 officers then combed the mosque for any signs of the shooters, but they had already fled the scene
Clark’s grandparents, David and Deborah Clark, told CNN they have been left stunned and heartbroken by the tragedy, saying they were ‘trying to process this’ and were ‘very sorry for what happened.’
Police said they arrived at the Islamic Center within minutes of the shooting and found three people deceased in front of the building. Several blocks away, a landscaper was also shot at but was not hit, and minutes later, police received a call about shots being fired down the street.
Clark and Vazquez were found dead inside a vehicle on Salerno Street, several streets away from the Islamic Center.
While authorities and police sources have revealed some details of Clark, little is known about Vazquez.
When the teenagers opened fire, witness Vanessa Chavez told The New York Times she watched in horror as the security guard was struck by at least two gunshots while children playing outside were herded into the building.
As many as 100 officers then combed the mosque for any signs of the shooters, breaking down doors as they evacuated the Al Rashid school on campus, which serves students in kindergarten through third grade.
As authorities now probe the shooting as a hate crime, they are looking into reported anti-Islamic writings that were found inside the vehicle where the boys were found dead.

Members of the Muslim community in San Diego react after the horror shooting on Monday

Two men embrace at the scene of the deadly shooting

Officers arrived on the scene in just four minutes, as they had already been searching for the teenagers after one of their mothers alerted cops to the threat
The shooting at the San Diego Islamic Center came at the beginning of Dhu’l-Hijja, one of the holiest months on the Muslim calendar.
It translates to ‘month of the pilgrimage’ and marks a time when millions of Muslims across the world embark on the Hajj, an annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
The Islamic Center of San Diego is the largest mosque in San Diego County, with around 5,000 members.
Although authorities have not yet established a motive, the attack on the religious center sparked concerns over Islamophobia among local officials.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement: ‘Hate has no home in San Diego. Islamophobia has no home in San Diego.
‘An attack on any one of our communities – on any San Diegan because of who they are, what they believe, or how they pray – is an attack on all of us.’
San Diego unified superintendent Fabi Bagula added that ‘hate has no place in our community or schools’ and that ‘every student family and community member deserves to feel safe, valued and able to worship and gather without fear.’


