Fundraiser For Guard Who Thwarted Mosque Shooters Tops $1.6 Million In Under 24 Hours

An online fundraiser for the security guard credited by police for heroic actions during Monday’s shooting at a California mosque has raised a massive sum for the man’s family less than a day after the near-tragedy.

San Diego Police credit Amin Abdullah, a security guard at the Islamic Center of San Diego who was killed during the shooting, with playing a “pivotal role” in “minimizing” the tragedy after two teenage gunmen opened fire at the mosque. On LaunchGood, a Muslim-oriented version of crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe or GiveSendGo, a fundraiser for Abdullah’s widow and eight children has raised over $1.6 million as of  this writing.

“Amin put himself between the gunmen and everyone inside,” the fundraising page for Abdullah’s family says. “Teachers, staff, and more than a dozen children were walked safely out of that building by police that afternoon, hand in hand. They are alive because Amin did his job. He paid for that with his life.”

Video from a car’s dashcam posted on X shows the suspected gunmen, 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Vazquez, firing at the mosque, the largest in San Diego County, and apparently receiving return fire from Amin. Multiple photos on Amin’s Facebook page show him in a tactical vest carrying a semiautomatic pistol and multiple magazines.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl confirmed during a Monday