Quebec City mosque shooting: Police charge 'lone wolf' student suspected of terrorist attack
Updated
A 27-year-old student allegedly known for his right-wing, nationalist views has appeared in court in Canada charged with murdering six people during a shooting at a Quebec City mosque.
Key points:
- Police identify Quebec university student as single suspect in the shooting
- The six victims range in age from 35 to 70
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the shooting "a terrorist attack"
Suspect Alexandre Bissonnette made a brief court appearance and did not enter a plea over the attack, which left six people dead during evening prayers on Sunday.
He was charged with six counts of murder and five of manslaughter.
Wearing a white prison jump suit, his hands and feet shackled, he stared down at the floor and fidgeted, but did not speak.
Prosecutors said all of the evidence was not yet ready and Bissonnette was set to appear again on February 21.
"The charges laid correspond to the evidence available," said Thomas Jacques, a representative of the prosecutor's office, when asked why Bissonnette was not charged with terrorism-related offences.
It has emerged Bissonnette, a French-Canadian, voiced support for the French far-right party of Marine Le Pen and had liked US President Donald Trump on his Facebook page.
He was not previously known to police, but a Facebook post by the group "Welcome to Refugees - Quebec City" said Bissonnette was "unfortunately known to several activists in Quebec City for his pro-Le Pen and anti-feminist identity positions at Laval University and on social networks."
"I wrote him off as a xenophobe. I didn't even think of him as totally racist, but he was enthralled by a borderline racist nationalist movement," Vincent Boissoneault, a fellow Laval University student said.
He said they frequently clashed over Bissonnette's opinions about refugees and support for Ms Le Pen and Mr Trump.
Bissonnette's lawyer, Jean Petit, declined to comment at the courthouse on Monday. Quebec's Laval University confirmed Bissonnette was a social science student there.
Bissonnette was a cerebral "nerdy outcast," said former high school classmate Simon de Billy, adding the suspect and his twin brother were inseparable.
"He was an avid reader, knew a lot about history and about current issues, current politics, those kinds of topics," de Billy said.
"He was just a bit of a loner, always with his twin brother, didn't have any friends."
Early confusion over number of suspects
Authorities initially said they had arrested two suspects, but in a Twitter message the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that "following the investigation, the second individual is now considered as a witness".
The second man was of Moroccan descent although his nationality was not known, the source said. He was named by media as Mohamed Khadir, or Mohammed Belkhadir.
Police said they were confident no other suspects were involved in the attack.
"They consider this a lone wolf situation," the source said.
Bissonnette is alleged to have opened fire on around 50 people at the mosque during evening prayers on Sunday night. The same mosque was targeted last year when a pig's head was left on its doorstep during Ramadan.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons in Ottawa: "Make no mistake, this was a terrorist attack," adding a personal message to Canada's 1 million Muslims.
"Know that we value you. You enrich our shared country in immeasurable ways. It is your home. Last night's horrible crime against the Muslim community was an act of terror committed against Canada and against all Canadians," he said.
"We will grieve with you. We will defend you. We will love you. And we will stand with you."
The attack was out of character for Quebec City, a city of just over 500,000 which reported just two murders in all of 2015. Mass shootings are rare in Canada, where gun control laws are stricter than in the United States.
In addition to the six killed, five people were critically injured and 12 were treated for minor injuries, a spokeswoman for the Quebec City University Hospital said.
Mr Trump called Mr Trudeau to express his condolences "and offered to provide any assistance as needed," said Mr Trudeau's spokesman Cameron Ahmad. He gave no further details about of the call.
Over the weekend, Mr Trudeau said Canada would welcome refugees after Mr Trump suspended the US refugee program and temporarily barred citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
Mr Trump's action, which the President said was "not about religion — this is about terror and keeping our country safe," was widely condemned in the United States and abroad as targeting Muslims.
Vigils held across Canada
The victims:
- Khaled Belkacemi, 60, a professor in the food science department at Universite Laval
- Azzedine Soufiane, 57, a grocer and butcher with three children
- Abdelkrim Hassen, 40, a married Government IT worker, with two daughters
- Brothers Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, and Ibrahim Barry, 39, were nationals of Guinea
- Aboubaker Thabti, 44, also died in the attack
- Others still remain in a critical condition in hospital
Among the six men killed were a butcher, a university professor, a pharmacist and an accountant, according to police and Canadian media.
Large crowds gathered at Parliament Hill and other locations across the country for candlelit vigils, while the lights of the Eiffel Tower in France were dimmed for one minute in honour of the victims.
A father and owner of a halal butcher near the mosque, was among those killed, said Pamela Sakinah El-hayet, a friend of one of the people at the mosque.
Student Ali Assafiri said he had been running late for the evening prayers at the mosque. When he arrived, the mosque had been transformed by police into a crime scene.
"Everyone was in shock," Mr Assafiri said.
"It was chaos."
Citizens for Public Justice, a group of Canadian Christians, churches and other religious congregations, expressed their solidarity with the Muslim community of Quebec City.
"Last night's shooting, targeting people of faith during their worship and prayer, is a deplorable attack on all Canadians and our most deeply-held values," the group's executive director, Joe Gunn, said.
While the motive for the shooting was not known, incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Quebec in recent years.
The face-covering, or niqab, became a big issue in the 2015 Canadian federal election, especially in Quebec, where the majority of the population supported a ban on it at citizenship ceremonies.
Pope Francis offered his condolences to Cardinal Gerald Cyprien LaCroix, Archbishop of Quebec, who was visiting Rome on Monday.
Reuters/AP
Topics: islam, law-crime-and-justice, crime, murder-and-manslaughter, canada
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