Thousands of community members attended a Janazah prayer Thursday in memory of the three victims of this week's attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego.
The Janazah is the Islamic faith's funeral prayer.
Mansour Kaziha, 78, Nadir Awad, 57 and Amin Abdulluh, 51, were killed Monday when two San Diego teens attacked the center, which includes a mosque and school.
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The three are remembered as heroes. Officials say had they not drawn the attention of the alleged shooters more people could have been killed.
The two alleged suspects died by suicide just blocks away from the center, authorities said.
Hanif Mohebi is a longtime volunteer at the center. He knew each of the victims and doesn’t mince words about what happened.
"I'm actually not too happy with washing it down with 'hate crime' and other soft terms that they use," Mohebi told KPBS after the prayer. "No, this is a terrorist act. This is an act of terrorism."
Authorities said the attack is being investigated as a "hate crime."
Experts on far-right extremism and white supremacy told KPBS this week writing and videos published by the alleged suspects online leave little doubt what motivated their attack.
Jared Holt is a senior researcher at Open Measures who monitors the spread of extremism and other harmful content online. He said the alleged suspects sought to copy the 2019 shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand that left 51 Muslims dead.
"They sought to replicate one of the deadliest racist mass shootings in history, and they sought to do it in the U.S. as tribute to that shooting," he said. "I think the ideology is inseparable from the violence."
Mohebi said too many false narratives about Islam come from influential people and the community has to fight to overcome Islamophobia. They need help from people outside the Muslim community, he said.
"Just simple words are not good enough," Mohebi said. "We need to educate ourselves first and then educate the larger community. We need to get rid of the hatred, the Islamophobia — the negative rhetoric."
Setche Kwamu-Mann isn’t Muslim but is involved with interfaith work in the community. She said she attended the Janazah to show her support.
"I want to stand in very strong solidarity," she said. "I just want to be here for them. I want them to know they're supported — they're supported by the broader community. I want them to know that we would do our best to keep them safe and to keep fighting this disease called 'hatred' and this disease called 'white supremacy.'"
