A nine-year-old boy has described witnessing Monday’s deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, saying that he “saw bad stuff” and huddled in closet during the attack.
Odai Shanah, whose mother emigrated from Gaza and settled in southern California two decades ago, told Reuters that he heard a barrage of gunshots coming from outside the walls of the mosque complex, which also houses an Islamic day school.
He recounted being among dozens of children forced to huddle in classrooms when deadly gunfire erupted at the mosque.
Odai said he and his classmates were trembling in fear as 12 to 16 more shots rang out after they were quickly ushered into that closet and crowded there together.
After the shooting stopped, the boy said, he and his companions heard members of a special tactical police team shouting from outside the classroom, “‘OK, open up’ – then they opened the door”.
But as they were escorted out of the building, “we saw a bunch of bad stuff, people laying down and yeah, bad stuff”, Odai said. He acknowledged meaning that he and the other children had seen bodies as they walked out in “a big line” with their hands up.
“My legs were shaking and my hands and my head were like hurting a lot,” he said. “I felt like a rock.”
Odai gave Reuters his account of the shooting after permission was granted to the outlet by his parents.
It was a stark reminder of how youths in the US are disproportionately affected – whether directly or indirectly – by gun violence, the country’s leading cause of death for teenagers or younger children.
Police have said three adults affiliated with the Islamic Center were killed during the attack, including a security guard, who officials said played a crucial role in limiting the number of deaths.
The security guard was identified by multiple friends as Amin Abdullah. One of the friends, journalist Kashif-ul-Huda, wrote on the website of Al Jazeera that he was “not surprised” Abullah had defended those at the mosque, saying he had always been “a man who wanted to protect others”.
“It was such a delight to see him fulfil his lifelong dream of being a security officer,” Huda wrote, adding that his friend had been “martyred defending the mosque”.
“Amin, which means ‘trustworthy’, lived up to his name and died doing what he loved,” Huda continued. The writer said his friend was born a Muslim to an African American mother and therefore was “as American as one can get.
“He was also as Muslim as one can be.”
Two attackers, aged 17 and 18, also died in the shooting, apparently killing themselves in a stolen car they used to transport them to the site of the attack.
San Diego’s police chief, Scott Wahl, said on Monday the shooting was being investigated as a hate crime and that the mother of one of the suspects had found a note.
“At this point, there was definitely hate rhetoric that was involved,” he said. “There was generalized hate rhetoric and speech,” but no specific threat was made to “any facility or any place”, he said.
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