6 Dead, 8 Wounded In Shooting At Quebec Mosque

Six people were killed and at least eight others wounded when a gunman opened fire on a mosque in Quebec City during evening prayers on Sunday, in what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a “terrorist attack on Muslims.”

Police on Monday said that they arrested two suspects after the shooting, but later stated that one of the men in their custody was deemed to be a witness to the attack. 

The sole suspect was identified as Alexandre Bissonnette, a French-Canadian university student, according to a Reuters source. 

Police declined to give details about the identity of the two men they initially arrested, or possible motives, during a press conference earlier on Monday. 

“Legal procedures are now underway and we cannot make any comment on the identity of the suspects,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police national security superintendent Martin Plante told a news conference. He added the suspects, both men, were not previously known to police.

One man was arrested at the mosque, where police were called at about 8 p.m. local time, and the other turned himself about an hour later, Quebec City Police Inspector Denis Turcotte said.

Police said they were confident there were no other suspects involved in the attack during evening prayers at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec.

“Why is this happening here? This is barbaric,” said the mosque’s president, Mohamed Yangui.

Yangui, who was not inside the mosque when the shooting occurred, said he got frantic calls from people at evening prayers. He did not know how many were injured, saying they had been taken to different hospitals across Quebec City.

Live video posted to the center’s Facebook page showed confusion and worry in the moments following the attack.

“All our thoughts are with the children who have to be told their fathers have died,’’ the center posted on Facebook early Monday. “May Allah give them patience and strength.’’

“This is the result of Trump,” one bystander said in Arabic, according to HuffPost Canada. The shooting occurred just days after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning travelers from majority-Muslim countries.

Trudeau expressed his grief for those affected by the violence in a statement posted on Twitter. On Monday, a government spokesman stated that Trudeau would travel to Quebec City in the wake of the shooting.

Trudeau also issued a statement to the press condemning the attack.

“We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a centre of worship and refuge.

“On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of all those who have died, and we wish a speedy recovery to those who have been injured.

“While authorities are still investigating and details continue to be confirmed, it is heart-wrenching to see such senseless violence. Diversity is our strength, and religious tolerance is a value that we, as Canadians, hold dear.

“Muslim-Canadians are an important part of our national fabric, and these senseless acts have no place in our communities, cities and country. Canadian law enforcement agencies will protect the rights of all Canadians, and will make every effort to apprehend the perpetrators of this act and all acts of intolerance.

“Tonight, we grieve with the people of Ste-Foy and all Canadians.”

“I want to express my disgust against this villainous act,” Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume said at a Sunday news conference. “I want to tell the members of the Muslim community, those who are our neighbours, our co-citizens, that they can count on our support, our solidarity, but mostly I want to tell them that we love them.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced that police would provide “additional protection” for mosques in the city following the attack.

Last June, a pig’s head was left on the doorstep of the mosque.

Like France, Quebec has struggled at times to reconcile its secular identity with a rising Muslim population, many of them North African emigrants.

The face-covering, or niqab, became a big issue in the 2015 national Canadian election, especially in Quebec, where the vast majority of the population supported a ban on it at citizenship ceremonies.

Incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Quebec in recent years. In 2013, police investigated after a mosque in the Saguenay region of Quebec was splattered with what was believed to be pig blood.

In the neighboring province of Ontario, a mosque was set on fire in 2015, a day after an attack by gunmen and suicide bombers in Paris.