UPDATE 1-Over 2,000 gather in San Diego to mourn three men killed in mosque attack

"Today is just a really difficult day for our ⁠entire community," said the mourner, who asked not to be named. Abdullah, the center's security guard, was shot dead on Monday in a gun battle with the teenage assailants during which he ​used his radio to call in a lockdown procedure, police said.

More than 2,000 people gathered in a San Diego park on Thursday to mourn a security guard and two other men murdered as they tried to stop this week's attack on the city’s largest mosque. Men ‌and women, including police officers in uniform, stood in rows for the Islamic funeral prayer or Janazah to remember the three men referred to as heroes by mourners for delaying and distracting two suspected teenage attackers and preventing further bloodshed at the Islamic Center of San Diego at a time when children were at its school.

The bodies ‌of the three men, Amin Abdullah, 51, Mansour Kaziha, 78, and Nadir Awad, 57, lay beneath cloths and rugs, underneath a white canopy in front ‌of the mourners. "God is the greatest," the mourners chanted in Arabic, raising their hands.

The three men were set to be buried alongside one another later in the day at a nearby cemetery. "Today is a message to everyone, our community got hurt but our community is standing strong and firm," said the center's imam, Taha Hassane, adding that people had flown in from the eastern United States ⁠and across ​California for the service.

One mourner broke down ⁠in tears as she talked about Monday's shooting, which has put Muslims across the United States on edge during a time of rising Islamophobia. "Today is just a really difficult day for our ⁠entire community," said the mourner, who asked not to be named.

Abdullah, the center's security guard, was shot dead on Monday in a gun battle with the teenage assailants during which he ​used his radio to call in a lockdown procedure, police said. Kaziha, the center's handyman and cook, as well as Awad, whose wife is a ⁠teacher at the center and who lived across the street from the mosque, were shot dead by the attackers after they heard gunfire and ran towards the center.

Abdullah’s actions are credited with delaying ⁠the assailants' ​entry to the center, which houses a primary school with 140 students. Children and staff had time to hide in closets and classrooms before the attackers entered to find empty rooms and spaces, police said. The assailants fled the mosque in their vehicle and were later found dead in the car from self-inflicted gunshots, ⁠police said. The attack is being investigated as a hate crime.

Khaled Abdullah, 24, the security guard's son, said his family has drawn strength from the way ⁠his father died. “The fact that he was ⁠on the front line, trying to defend kids and innocent people, that makes me feel good,” Khaled told Reuters on Wednesday. “Calling him a hero is the least we can do.”

Abdullah’s daughter, Hawaa, on Monday said he “stood against any form of hate.”