Community members gathered in Oceanside on Saturday to honor three men killed in Monday’s shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego and to show support for the region’s Muslim community. About 100 people of different faiths attended the gathering at Civic Center Plaza to remember Amin Abdul lah, Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad, who were killed in the attack. “There’s an appetite to stand with the Muslim community,” organizer Yusef Miller said at the event. Miller of the North County Equity and Justice Coalition helped organize the vigil. He said the Muslim community continues to grieve during a sacred time of year. “The month of Hajj is the last month on the lunar calendar in the first ten days of the holiest. And on that first of those ten days, that’s when we lost our three beloved brothers,” Miller said. Miller said community members are determined not to let fear overshadow their faith or unity. “The tragedy has have [us] all shaken up, but this is a holy period, a period of reflection, a period of prayer and charity. So we would not allow terrorists to to steal our joy, to steal our our faith, to make us hide and cower,” Miller said. He also said healing will require education and broader conversations about diversity and inclusion. “And when it comes to our educational system, diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI is the solution, not the problem,” Miller said. Miller called on families and school systems to promote understanding and accountability. “We need a cultural shift. And in the school systems, we need education, something intentional, something that brings people together no matter what percentage of those different, diverse ethnic groups exist in that school system,” Miller said. “We can fix that. It’s in our hands. We just need the political will to institute it and have it in our school systems,” Miller said. Since the shooting, court records have revealed that the father of teenage gunman Caleb Vazquez had voluntarily removed all weapons and knives from their Chula Vista home because he was concerned about his son. The family even released a statement saying they condemn the hateful and violent actions entirely. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less