'My legs were shaking, I felt like a rock': 9-year-old recounts shooting at San Diego mosque

Nine-year-old Odai Shanah, whose mother emigrated from war-torn Gaza and settled in Southern California two decades ago, was among dozens of children forced to huddle in classrooms on Monday when deadly gunfire erupted at the mosque where they attend school. In an interview hours after the late-morning shooting at the Islamic Centre of San Diego, Shanah recalled hearing a barrage of gunshots coming from outside the walls of the complex, which also houses an Islamic day school. A family reunites with loved ones at the corner of Lindbergh Park next to the crime scene as law enforcement and emergency services respond to a shooting at the Islamic Centre of San Diego on May 18, 2026 in San Diego, California. —AFP Shanah said he and his classmates were quickly ushered into a closet where they crowded together, trembling in fear as 12 to 16 more shots rang out. At some point after the shooting ceased, they heard members of a police SWAT team shouting from outside the classroom, “‘OK, open up,’ then they opened the door”, the boy recounted. As they were escorted out of the building by police officers, “we saw a bunch of bad stuff, people laying down and yeah, bad stuff”, Shanah said, using a phrase that he acknowledged meant that he was referring to the victims’ bodies. “My legs were shaking and my hands and my head were like hurting a lot. I felt like a rock,” he said. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl speaks at a press conference following a shooting at the Islamic Centre of San Diego in southern California on May 18, 2026. —AFP Police said three men affiliated with the Islamic centre, including a security guard credited by authorities with preventing greater bloodshed, were shot dead outside the mosque by two teen suspects, who later took their own lives several blocks away. Both of Shanah’s parents gave permission for their son to be interviewed by name for this article, and to recount ...

Original source: Dawn Pakistan