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

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 the attackers, preventing further bloodshed at a time when children were at the mosque's school. The bodies of the men, Amin Abdullah, 51, Mansour Kaziha, 78, and Nadir Awad, 57, lay beneath cloths ‌and rugs, underneath a white canopy.

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 the attackers, preventing further bloodshed at a time when children were at the mosque's school.

The bodies of the men, Amin Abdullah, 51, Mansour Kaziha, 78, and Nadir Awad, 57, lay beneath cloths ‌and rugs, underneath a white canopy. "God is the greatest," the mourners chanted in Arabic, raising their hands at the service in a park wedged between the city's ‌river and a soccer stadium.

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 travelled from the eastern United States and across California for the service.

The FBI is investigating the attack as ⁠a suspected ​hate crime and the killings have put Muslims ⁠across the United States on edge at a time of rising Islamophobia. Mourner Ruba Abu Jamah, who knew all three men, called for an end to the hatred of Muslims that she believed inspired ⁠the attackers. She questioned why the mother of one of the teenage suspects, who alerted police that her son was suicidal, allegedly allowed him to have access to guns.

"For God's sake, why ​are we going backwards? Hate takes us backwards," said Abu Jamah, after hearses took the men's bodies for burial. "Moms, don't have a whole display of weapons ⁠if you know your 16-year-old kid is depressed." Abdullah was shot dead 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, where 140 students hid in closets ⁠and other 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.

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."