Quebec mosque suspect charged with murdering six people: court
By Allison Lampert and Anna Mehler Paperny,
QUEBEC CITY/TORONTO (Reuters) – A French-Canadian university student was the sole suspect in a shooting at a Quebec City mosque and was charged with the premeditated murder of six people, Canadian authorities said on Monday, in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called “a terrorist attack.”Court documents identified the gunman in the attack on Sunday evening prayers as Alexandre Bissonnette. He was also charged with five counts of attempted murder, according to court papers. Among the six men killed were a butcher, a university professor, a pharmacist and an accountant, according to police and Canadian media. Police declined to discuss possible motives for the shooting at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec. “They consider this a lone wolf situation,” the source said.
In Washington, U.S. government security experts were leaning to the view that the gunman most likely was motivated by hatred for Muslims, a U.S. government source familiar with official reporting said.
A man of Moroccan descent who had also been arrested was now considered a witness, although his nationality was not immediately known, a source familiar with the situation said.
Trudeau, who has made a point of welcoming refugees and immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, told parliament in Ottawa: “Make no mistake, this was a terrorist attack.”He added 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. We will grieve with you. We will defend you. We will love you. And we will stand with you.”
Somber parliamentarians observed a moment of silence. Trudeau was scheduled to visit Quebec City later on Monday. 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.
Federal Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters in Ottawa there was no change to “the national terrorism threat level” from medium because “there is no information known to the government of Canada that would lead to a change at this time.” U.S. President Donald Trump called Trudeau to express his condolences “and offered to provide any assistance as needed,” said Trudeau spokesman Cameron Ahmad. Over the weekend, Trudeau said Canada would welcome refugees, his response to an executive order by Trump on Friday to halt the U.S. refugee program and to temporarily bar citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
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.
On Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that the Quebec shooting was “a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant, and why the president is taking steps to be proactive, rather than reactive, when it comes to our nation’s safety and security.”
FATHER OF FOUR KILLED
A father of four, the 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.
The mosque concierge was killed, as was Ahmed Youness, a 21-year-old student, El-hayet told Reuters. One of El-hayet’s friends, Youness’ roommate, was in the mosque at the time of the shooting. He was unharmed, she said, but in total shock.
Ali Assafiri, a student at Université Laval, said he had been running late for the evening prayers at the mosque, near the university in the Quebec City area. When he arrived, the mosque had been transformed by police into a crime scene.
“Everyone was in shock,” Assafiri said by phone. “It was chaos.”
Université Laval is the oldest French-language university in North America, with 42,500 students.
Vigils were planned for Montreal and Quebec City, the provincial capital, as well as in Edmonton. There was an outpouring of support for the mosque on social media.
“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,” said Joe Gunn, executive director of Citizens for Public Justice, a group of Canadian Christians, churches and other religious congregations.
Incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Quebec in recent years. The face-covering, or niqab, became an issue in the 2015 Canadian federal election, especially in Quebec, where the majority of the population supported a ban on it at citizenship ceremonies.
(Additional reporting by Kevin Dougherty in Quebec City,; Alastair Sharp and Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto; David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by Andrea Hopkins, Frances Kerry, Grant McCool; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Alan Crosby)
Six Killed in ‘Terrorist’ Attack on Quebec Mosque
Naharnet/Associated Press/January 30/17/Gunmen stormed into a mosque in Quebec during evening prayers and opened fire on dozens of worshippers, killing six and wounding eight in what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned as a “terrorist attack.”Police arrested the two assailants following the shooting Sunday in the Islamic Cultural Center in a busy district of Quebec City, police spokeswoman Christine Coulombe said.She gave no indication of the identities or nationalities of the two suspects. One witness told Radio Canada that “the two men were wearing black cagoules,” and one of them “had a “strong Quebecois accent.” Coulumbe said around 50 people were in the mosque when the shooting began at around 7:30 pm on Sunday (0030 GMT Monday) toward the end of evening prayers.
A few minutes later police descended on the Saint-Foy district — an area packed with offices and shops some 10 kilometers (six miles) west of the city’s historic center. The mosque has already been the target of hate: a pig’s head was left on the doorstep last June during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Other mosques in Canada have been targeted with racist graffiti in recent months. The attack comes as Canada has vowed to open its arms wide to Muslims and refugees after US President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration ban Friday sparked travel chaos and outrage around the world.
– ‘Senseless violence’ -Trudeau said in a statement that “we condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a center of worship and refuge.””Muslim-Canadians are an important part of our national fabric, and these senseless acts have no place in our communities, city and country. “It is heart-wrenching to see such senseless violence,” Trudeau said. “Diversity is our strength, and religious tolerance is a value that we, as Canadians, hold dear.” Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said in a series of Twitter posts that the government was “mobilized to ensure the security of the people of Quebec.””Quebec categorically rejects this barbaric violence,” he wrote.
“Solidarity with Quebec people of Muslim faith.” After condemning what he called an “odious attack” French President Francois Hollande said “it’s the spirit of peace and openness of the people of Quebec that the terrorists wanted to hit.”Police stationed near the mosque told AFP that they had feared this type of attack “because it’s happening all over the world.””For us Muslims, Quebec and Canada had been a safe zone,” said Hamid Nadji, who learned of the shooting from a friend and rushed to the mosque area. – Policy of compassion -The immigration ministry said Sunday that Canada would offer temporary residence permits to people stranded in the country as a result of Trump’s order.”Let me assure those who may be stranded in Canada that I will use my authority as minister to provide them with temporary residency if needed as we have done in the past,” Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen told a news conference. Trump has suspended the arrival of all refugees to the US for at least 120 days and barred entry for 90 days to people from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Hussen, who is of Somali origin, did not condemn the US measure but stressed that Canada would continue to pursue an immigration policy based on “compassion” while at the same time protecting the security of its citizens. “We welcome those fleeing persecution, terror and war,” he said, echoing a welcoming Twitter post by Trudeau on Saturday. According to the latest Canadian census, from 2011, one out of five people in the country are foreign-born. Canada has welcomed more than 39,670 Syrian refugees between November 2015 and early January 2017, according to government figures.