Quebec mourns those lost in ‘scene of unspeakable brutality’
‘Children witnessed this vile cruelty’
A 27-year-old university student with a history of far-right views has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder after a horrific shooting attack on a Quebec City mosque Sunday ended with “blood on the prayer rugs.” Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard has labelled the attack a “terrorist act.”
The men, women and children gathered Sunday at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec were mostly seated after completing their evening prayers. But some continued praying, standing with their backs to the door, facing toward Mecca.
According to a passerby who spoke to Radio-Canada, the peaceful scene was shattered by a cry of “F--- you” as a man brandishing an assault rifle burst through the unlocked mosque doors.
“I saw a man go in, open the mosque door, then I heard ‘tock-tock-tock-tock-tock.’ Five gunshots,” the witness, whose identity was not disclosed, said. He fled for cover, but inside the worshippers were trapped.
“Those sitting down who had finished praying were not hit much, but those who were still standing and praying, they received all the bullets,” said Boufeldja Benabdallah, co-founder of the cultural centre in the suburb of Sainte-Foy, who spoke to a survivor. “They were shot in the back.”
In a message posted to its Facebook page, the centre, also known as the Grande Mosquée de Québec, described the horror that unfolded inside.
“A scene of unspeakable brutality took place in front of several dozen Quebec citizens, including children,” it said. “Gunshots, deaths, loading of ammunition, the cries of the injured. Blood on the prayer rugs. Practically a scene of war, here in our home of Quebec City, our city known for its peacefulness. Children witnessed this vile cruelty.”
Calls to 911 began coming in at around 7:55 p.m. Salah Benrqiq, a co-founder of the centre, said it was around that time he got a panicked call from a friend who had been inside.
“He called me to say, “There’s a massacre at the Grande Mosquée de Québec. You have to warn the people at the other mosques to evacuate the buildings.’ “
Just a couple of hours earlier, Ezzedine Soufiane had been behind the counter of his halal butcher shop and grocery store a few blocks away from the mosque when Nacer Bouimadaghene, a fellow immigrant from Morocco, stopped in to make a purchase. Bouimadaghene said that after closing shop, Soufiane, 57, would stop by the mosque for prayers before heading home for the night.
But on Sunday, he never made it home. Two friends of Soufiane, local imam Karim Elabed and Ali Ouldache, told The Canadian Press they’d been told that Soufiane died after trying to stop the gunman.
“He wanted to stop the shooter,” Ouldache, a Quebec City personal trainer, said. “I had a friend in the mosque and he told me he jumped at the shooter and the shooter didn’t hesitate to shoot at his head.”
On Monday afternoon, the Épicerie Assalam was locked up, and bouquets of flowers lay on the doorstep. Bouimadaghene and his wife, Khadija El Assad, fought back tears as they remembered Soufiane, the man who had helped them feel at home when they moved to Quebec City to be near their son.
“It is hard to find words to express our sadness. He was someone known by everyone and loved by everyone. He was one of a kind. And now he is gone,” Bouimadaghene said. “He was someone who helped. He was someone who was very wise.”
Danielle Thivierge, a regular customer, stopped by to say hello to Soufiane Monday and was shaken to learn the butcher with the best calf liver in town was among the six victims of the mosque attack. She recalled the time she forgot her wallet and Soufiane insisted she take her groceries and pay later. “He said, ‘Madame, nobody leaves the store without their food.’ ”
The man who allegedly stormed the mosque, 27-year-old Alexandre Bissonnette, appeared in court late Monday on six charges of first-degree murder and five charges of attempted murder.
An anthropology student at Université Laval, Bissonnette had allegedly succeeded in fleeing the scene Sunday night, making it as far as the bridge to Île d’Orléans, just east of Quebec City. Police said they got a call from a man who identified himself as the suspect in the shootings, and Bissonnette was arrested there without a struggle at around 9 p.m.
A second man seen fleeing the mosque was arrested and interrogated but turned out to have been a mosquegoer who was trying to aid an injured friend. Police believe Bissonnette acted alone.
He had not been on police radar before Sunday night, but his Facebook page offers a glimpse of his political leanings. He has liked the pages of U.S. President Donald Trump and of Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate for the far-right French party Front National.
Among his alleged victims is a professor at his university, Khaled Belkacemi, 60, of the Faculty of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “I would like to pay tribute to my colleague Khaled Belkacemi’s human qualities and professionalism,” faculty dean Jean-Claude Dufour said. “He was a very cultivated man, passionate and involved in his faculty. His remarkable work will survive his sudden departure, which profoundly saddens us.”
The other four victims, all men, were identified by the coroner as Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, Aboubaker Thabti, 44 and Ibrahima Barry, 39.
Police have not speculated on the motives, but Premier Philippe Couillard said there is no doubt that the gunman singled out Muslims. “The only thing I can say that is an undeniable fact, is that this community was specifically targeted,” he said. “The people who were shamefully murdered were murdered because they belonged to this community.”
The mosque had been the target of hatred in recent months, with swastikas painted on the wall, antiIslam tracts distributed in the neighbourhood and a pig’s head left outside last summer with a misspelled sign reading, “Bonne appétit.”
Benabdallah said the community had not been terrorized by the previous abuse, but it had installed security cameras inside and out to identify future culprits. They never imaged that the next assailant would come bearing not spray-paint or a pig’s head but a rifle.
“We took all kinds of precautions, but it is never enough,” he said.
THOSE SITTING DOWN WHO HAD FINISHED PRAYING WERE NOT HIT MUCH, BUT THOSE WHO WERE STILL STANDING AND PRAYING, THEY RECEIVED ALL THE BULLETS. — BOUFELDJA BENABDALLAH, CO-FOUNDER OF THE CENTRE CULTUREL ISLAMIQUE DE QUÉBEC SAW A MAN GO IN, OPEN THE MOSQUE DOOR, THEN I HEARD ‘TOCK-TOCK-TOCK-TOCK-TOCK.’ FIVE GUNSHOTS.