Two teenagers opened fire on the Islamic Center of San Diego complex on Monday, killing three men outside the mosque, including a security guard. The two attackers were later found dead in a vehicle nearby - from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

The FBI immediately classified the investigation as a hybrid criminal case - with an unambiguous label: hate crime. One of the weapons bore hate messages that didn't single out this Islamic centre specifically, but covered a "broad spectrum" of anti-Muslim hatred.

All children at the Al Rashid school inside the same complex were safely evacuated. Time of attack: shortly before noon. The response: 50 to 100 police officers on scene within four minutes - a response that's impressive in absolute terms, and that underlines the scale of the problem.

Two hours before the attack, the mother of one of the attackers called police. She said her son had left home with several of her handguns, dressed in camouflage. Police treated the case as a possible suicide. Not a targeted attack on a mosque. Not preparation for a crime. Suicide. That's the same lens that's been pretty typical for many anti-Muslim attacks in the US in recent years.

Imam Taha Hasane summed it up simply: "This is a place for prayer, not a battlefield." The attack comes a week before Eid al-Adha - one of the biggest Muslim holidays. That's not coincidence, that's timing.

For Balkan Muslims, who live in countries where faith always carries a political tint, this story rings close. Not the first, not the last attack on a mosque in the West. Not the first mother whose warning wasn't taken seriously. Not the last death of an imam or a worshipper on their way to prayer. The question we all ask ourselves is the one nobody wants to answer: how many San Diegos does it take before someone admits this is a trend, not an incident?