A guard, a teacher’s husband and an indispensable elder: Mosque mourns heroes who distracted shooters from children inside

The heroic and selfless actions of the victims ultimately saved lives by preventing the two attackers from penetrating deeper into the building, investigators have said.

Slain security guard of California mosque engaged gunmen in shootout, hailed as hero

By Matt Silverstein, Jana Winter, Helen Coster and Andrew Hay SAN DIEGO, May 19 (Reuters) - The security guard slain at the Islamic Center of San Diego was hailed on Tuesday as a fallen hero who sacrificed his life to keep 140 school children inside the mosque safe by engaging two gunmen in a shootout that deterred the teenage suspects and helped thwart their attack.