Muslim groups expressed pain, grief, and anger over rampant Islamophobia after a shooting at a San Diego mosque on Monday that killed three people. Two teenage suspects were also found dead after apparently shooting themselves, according to police.
“The deadly attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego did not happen in a vacuum. It is the outcome of years of fearmongering, scapegoating, and dehumanization targeting an entire religious community,” Raqib Naik, executive director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), told Prism in an emailed statement. “For more than a year, Republican elected officials have run a sustained and coordinated campaign portraying Muslim Americans as a threat to the country, pushing conspiracy theories about ‘Sharia law,’ ‘Islamification,’ and ‘invasion,’ while describing Islam and Muslims as ‘demons,’ a ‘death cult,’ a ‘cancer,’ and a ‘plague.’”
The Washington, D.C.-based think tank released a report last month that documented a 1,450% surge in anti-Muslim social media posts by Republican elected officials from February 2025 to March 2026. The campaign of hate appeared to originate with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s amplification of a conspiracy theory relating to American Muslims implementing Sharia law, a set of moral and religious guidance, the report found.
“When those in power use their position and platforms to normalize fear and hate toward a community, that hatred often manifests in violence,” Naik said.