National Post (National Edition)
‘I WAS BATTLING A DEMON’: MOSQUE SHOOTER GUILTY
Bissonnette, 28, admits killing six at Quebec Islamic centre in 2017
QUEBEC CITY • Pleading for forgiveness, Alexandre Bissonnette told a hushed Quebec courtroom that he doesn’t know why he fatally shot six Muslim men as they prayed in a Quebec City mosque last year.
“Despite what has been said about me, I am neither a terrorist nor an Islamophobe,” he told the court. “Rather, I am someone who was overcome by fear, by negative thoughts and by desperation.”
“It’s as though I was battling a demon that finished by winning out,” he said.
His wrists and ankles shackled, Bissonnette, 28, appeared to be holding back tears as he changed his plea to guilty to six counts of first-degree murder and six of attempted murder in connection with Jan. 29, 2017 attack.
“I would like to ask you to forgive me for all the wrongs that I have done but I know what I did is unforgivable,” he said.
Bissonnette said he thinks every moment of the day about “the lives I destroyed, the immense pain that I caused to so many people, including members of my own family.”
Bissonnette had pleaded not guilty on Monday, the first day of what was to be a two-month trial. But hours later, he told the judge he wanted to plead guilty.
Taken aback, Superior Court Justice François Huot ordered a psychiatric evaluation before deciding how to proceed. A publication ban prevented reporting on the turn of events until Wednesday.
Psychiatrist Sylvain Faucher evaluated Bissonnette on Monday evening. He testified on Wednesday that Bissonnette understood what he was doing, was able to make the decision on his own and appreciated the consequences.
Bissonnette sat in the prisoners’ box looking sullen for most of the hearing.
The judge asked him whether he would like to stick with the guilty plea.
“It would be the same, judge,” Bissonnette answered.
“And you’re comfortable with that?” the judge asked.
“Yes, I’m comfortable with that,” Bissonnette said.
Huot then found Bissonnette guilty of all charges, reading aloud the names of all 12 victims. Muffled crying could be heard in the courtroom as the names of the dead were read: Azzedine Soufiane, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Aboubaker Thabti, Abdelkrim Hassane, Mamadou Tanou Barry and Ibrahima Barry.
Dozens of Muslim community members were in attendance. Among them were all six widows and Aymen Derbali, left paralyzed and in a wheelchair after risking his life to save others during the shooting at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec.
Before he changed his plea, the judge asked Bissonnette if he understood he could be facing up to 150 years in prison. Bissonnette said he understood. He will be sentenced on April 10.
Prosecutor Thomas Jacques said he hopes the guilty plea allows survivors and relatives of those killed to “quench their thirst for justice and to ease their intense suffering.”
Mohamed Labidi, a member of the Muslim community in Quebec City and a former president of the mosque, said Bissonnette’s threeminute address left him wanting a fuller explanation of why he did what he did.
“It’s very abstract what he told us,” Labidi said. “We still need other explanations. The small words don’t convince us about all the motives of the crime.
“It’s not a complete answer for me. What he said as to why he did this crime it’s very, very short.”
A search warrant made public Wednesday shed light on Bissonnette’s state of mind. It also hinted at a possible motive.
Manon Marchand told police her son, a Université Laval student at the time, was “very anxious and unstable” before the shooting, and that he had recently been prescribed a drug used to treat depression, obsessions, compulsions, panic disorder and anxiety, according to the warrant, part of which had been under a publication ban.
Marchand also told investigators Bissonnette agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump’s assertion that “all immigration should be blocked,” the warrant noted.
Bissonnette had four firearms — two handguns, two rifles — on the night of the attack. About 20 minutes after the shooting, he called 911. He said he wanted to turn himself in but also said he wanted to shoot himself in the head with a handgun in his car’s back seat. He said he had left a handgun behind at the mosque. “He’s crying, says that he (also) had two rifles but says he doesn’t remember anything.”
Bissonnette’s mother told police he dined with his parents that evening, then went to a shooting range he belonged to, but it was closed. She did not hear from her son again that night.
At the mosque, prayers ended around 7:45 p.m. Calls to 911 about the shooting starting coming in at 7:54 p.m. About four minutes later, the first police officers arrived. They found pools of blood and victims scattered around the mosque, some of them fatally shot in the head, others bleeding profusely. Four men died on the scene; two more would die later in a hospital.
Bissonnette fired indiscriminately in a vestibule and then entered the prayer room, firing rapidly, witnesses told investigators.