‘UNSPEAKABLE BRUTALITY’
LAVAL UNIVERSITY STUDENT CHARGED WITH MURDER IN SHOOTINGS AT QUEBEC CITY MOSQUE
A27-year-old university student has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder after a shooting attack on a Quebec City mosque Sunday ended with “blood on the prayer rugs.”
Alexandre Bissonnette, who has a history of far right views, is also facing five charges of attempted murder.
The victims, all men between 39 and 60, were bent in prayer when the shooter barged in on the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec just before 8 p.m. They were shot in the back, according to Mohamed Labidi, vice-president of the mosque.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the shooting that killed six men and wounded 19 others, two of them critically, a “terrorist attack on Muslims.”
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard also called it a “terrorist act,” saying he reacted with “horror and incredulity” when he learned about the attack. He promised increased police protection for mosques and Islamic centres across the province.
“We are with you,” Couillard said, addressing the province’s Muslim community. “You are at home. You are Québécois.”
Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume was visibly shaken as he arrived at city hall on Monday.
“I did not sleep,” he told reporters. “It’s horrific. Horrific … in our magnificent city, it’s horrific.”
The fact that it happened in Quebec City — a community that had one homicide in the whole of last year — also seemed to rattle the mayor and the province.
The Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec issued a statement on Monday morning, saying: “We were attacked because we are Muslim. Shot at point blank range because we are Muslims. Dead because we are Muslim.
“A scene of unspeakable brutality took place in front of dozens of Quebec citizens, including children. Gunfire, death, reloading of weapons, yelling, wounded people. Blood on the prayer rugs. A scene almost of war, here, at home, in Quebec, our city known for its tranquility.”
Police provided no possible motive as they began their investigation into the attack on the mosque, which has been a target of threats. Last summer, a gift-wrapped pig’s head was placed at the entrance to the building.
“Security at our mosque was our major, major concern,” said Labidi. “But we were caught off guard.”
The six victims were identified as Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, Khaled Belkacemi, 60, Aboubaker Thabti, 44, Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, and Ibrahima Barry, 39.
A local imam said Soufiane was a grocer, butcher and father of three. The imam said the longtime Quebec City resident often helped newcomers to the provincial capital.
Soufiane’s store — Epecerie-Boucherie-Assalam — was closed Monday, with a bouquet of flowers and a single rose resting against the front door.
Of the five people still hospitalized Monday, three were due to be released and two were being treated for serious injuries, according to Quebec City University Hospital.
Initially police said two suspects had been arrested but later clarified only one was a suspect. The second man, Mohamed Belkhadir, a 29-yearold engineering student, told La Presse that he was trying to provide first aid to shooting victims when police mistook him for a suspect. But he doesn’t hold it against police.
Belkhadir, who had called 911 after hearing 15 to 20 seconds of gunfire, said he fled when he saw someone with a firearm. He thought it was the shooter; in fact, it was a police officer.
“I understand, I respect, that they caught me,” he told La Presse. “They saw me flee, they thought I was suspicious, that’s normal. For them, someone who flees is a suspect.”
A home on Tracel Street in the Cap-Rouge district of Quebec City was among the places where the police conducted searches on Monday.
The single-family home appears to belong to Bissonette’s parents, who bought the property in 1987, records show.
Bissonnette’s father is listed in the sales deed as an investigator.
Bissonnette is a sociology student at Université Laval. He does not have a criminal record and was known as an introvert and a victim of bullying in school.
He appeared at the Quebec City courthouse, dressed in white with his head bowed.
He showed no emotion in his brief appearance. His lawyer did not enter a plea, and he will appear next Feb. 21.He was not charged with any terrorism-related offences. Asked why, Crown prosecutor Michel Fortin said he was charged according to the evidence available. “But the investigation is ongoing,” Fortin said.
A Quebec City Facebook group called Bienvenue aux réfugié said Bissonnette “is unfortunately known to many activists in Quebec City for his positions on identity and his pro-Le Pen and anti-feminist stances at Université Laval and on social networks.”
President Donald Trump called Trudeau to express support. Pope Francis offered his condolences to Cardinal Gérald Cyprien LaCroix, the archbishop of Quebec, who was visiting Rome on Monday.
Messages of solidarity poured in from the leaders of France and Germany; Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York; and a seven-year-old girl who recently fled Syria, among others.
“This was a group of innocents, targeted for practising their faith,” Trudeau said in the House of Commons Monday afternoon. “Make no mistake: this was a terrorist attack. It was an attack on our most intrinsic and cherished values as Canadians, values of openness, diversity and freedom of religion.”
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East called on political leaders to “renounce fear-mongering and incendiary rhetoric disparaging Canada’s Muslim community.”
“The climate towards Muslims in Quebec has been increasingly hostile in recent years,” the group’s president, Thomas Woodley, said in a statement.
“Quebec and national politicians have often fanned the flames of animosity and prejudice towards Muslims, and attacks like these are the tragic and inevitable result.”