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Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera and Council President Joe LaCava proposed the action, the definition above serving as "an educational tool to help the city identify, condemn, and combat anti-Muslim hate and would reaffirm the city's commitment to religious freedom and civil rights," according to a statement from the council members. Following the May 18 attack, Abdullah Tahiri, president of the Muslim Leadership Council of San Diego, told reporters that his community was in a state of deep shock and mourning. "This act of what we call domestic terrorism against the Islamic Center of San Diego, this was not only a mass shooting that happened at a religious institution, but this was a school mass shooting," Tahiri said. "And if it weren't for the bravery and selflessness of Amin Abdullah, the security guard who sacrificed his life, we'd have countless children dead today." San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl told reporters that Abdullah's actions, including promptly instituting a lockdown of the Eckstrom Avenue mosque and then engaging the killers in gunfire, "without a doubt delayed, distracted and ultimately deterred these two (shooters) from gaining access to the greater areas of the mosque, where as many as 140 kids were within 15 feet of these suspects." "Tragically, he died in that gunbattle," Wahl said.