Bay Area man connected to San Diego mosque grew up with victim in deadly shooting

PLEASANTON, Calif. (KGO) -- The Islamic Center of San Diego, site of Monday's shooting, used to be like a second home for Rami Bailony.

"It is shocking. In many ways, you don't even want to believe it," says Bailony, who grew up attending the mosque and school. "It's a place that has been connected to our lives, ever since we were born."

Bailony's father helped to establish the Islamic center. His brother's children were in class there when the shooting happened. They all grew up with Mansour Kaziha, the mosque caretaker, who is one of three people killed by the two teenage shooters.

"Every camping trip. Every barbecue. He was there. He was really like an uncle to me," says Bailony, who now lives in Belmont. " He is the type of person who served people with a kind of quiet goodness. He made everyone around him feel safer and loved."

RELATED: 3 men killed in San Diego mosque shooting and both teenage suspects dead, police say

Sources tell ABC News that anti-Muslim and Islamophobic writings were found in the vehicle with the two teens.

Members of the Muslim community say what happened in San Diego is not an isolated incident of anti-Muslim hate. Violent threats have become common for many Bay Area mosques.

"We were getting a significant amount of increase in hate emails. We had someone... saying that they have guns, and they want us out. Go back to your own country," says Seema Badar, a former board member of the Muslim Community Center in Pleasanton, the largest mosque in the East Bay. She is also an elected delegate to the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee.

Badar says armed guards have been hired to protect worshippers ahead of the weekly communal Friday prayer and the Eid al-Adha holiday next Wednesday - the biggest Muslim holiday of the year. Monday, the day of the fatal shooting, marked the start of the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah, considered to be the most sacred days in the Islamic calendar.

"This stuff comes down to all of us. And hits all of our communities. It affects all of us," says Badar.

"We have been warning about an unprecedented anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate for the last several years. That hate has reached a fever-pitch with elected officials championing anti-Muslim legislation. Targeting mosques and Muslim organizations across the country. And as horrifying as this is, it should come as no surprise," says Zahra Billoo, Executive Director of the San Francisco chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S.

She points to tweets like those from Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles, who says, "Muslims don't belong in American society."

And another from Congressman Randy Fine from Florida, writing: "If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one."

Billoo says this kind of rhetoric leads to violence. And says elected officials are "complicit."

"When they are constantly hearing the encouragement of violence, the dehumanization of our communities, and the legitimization of hate, why wouldn't they take action? In fact, that is what they have been encouraged to do by some of our elected officials," claims Billoo. "I would go so far as to say that our president's silence in this moment is, in fact, giving permission."

RELATED: San Diego Islamic Center shooting suspect apparently posted video of attack: Sources

And there is concern that there are few consequences when the target is the Muslim community.

"The Muslim community is one of the few communities that it seems that every other elected official, organization, anybody can speak very disparagingly about, and there doesn't seem to be any advocates or allies that speak in support of the Muslim community," says California State Senator Aisha Wahab, who represents parts of the East Bay.

Senator Wahab says there was a moment of silence on Tuesday in the state legislature for the San Diego mosque victims. She adds that lawmakers are working on more security funding for places of worship across the state.

She doubts that the Muslim community will back down from the rising threats.

"The Muslim community has a very strong faith and a long sense of justice. And I don't believe that anybody is going to not attend a mosque because of this incident," says Senator Wahab.

"For us, I think what's more important is that the legacy of the people at the Islamic Center, who passed away, that that legacy is louder than the violence that ended it. And I think ultimately the focus should be on how good these folks were, how they served their communities," says Bailony.