Quebec mosque shooter is arraigned

Trudeau assails anti- Muslim terrorist attack

The university stuQUEBEC CITY dent accused of murdering six people at a local mosque was a fan of Katy Perry, President Trump and French right- wing leader Marine Le Pen, posted anti- feminist comments on social media and dressed as the Grim Reaper for Halloween.

Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, made a brief court appearance late Monday but did not enter a plea to six counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder. No terrorism charges were filed, but prosecutor Thomas Jacques said the investigation is continuing and that more charges are possible.

Bissonette studied social sciences at Université Laval, not far from the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec where he conducted his bloody shooting spree as his victims engaged in evening prayers Sunday. His victims included a butcher, a pharmacist and a professor. Some were African immigrants, some were fathers.

The Canadian refugee advocacy group Welcome to Refugees said on its Facebook page that Bissonette was known for his anti- feminist positions on social media. Posts on Bissonette’s Facebook page, no longer active, showed he “liked” Trump and Le Pen, donned the Grim Reaper costume in October and was a fan of Perry and Megadeth.

“He was not overtly racist or Islamophobic, but he had border- line misogynist, Islamophobic viewpoints,” Vincent Boissonneault, an international studies student at Université Laval, told the Montreal Gazette. “Unfortunately, that’s become more or less acceptable these days.”

Jean- Michel Allard Prus told Vice Media he once participated in a group project with Bissonnette at Laval.

“He was a pro- Israel and proTrump guy,” Allard- Prus said. “He didn’t have his arms open to immigrants, you could say. He was against all gun control. He could have been a perfect Republican.”

The attack took place in one of the least violent places in the world. Quebec City, with a population of more than 500,000 people, had one murder last year, according to media reports. It averages less than five murders over the last several years. Baltimore, with a population of just over 600,000 people, had more than 300 murders last year alone.

Authorities have released the names of the mosque victims: Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42; Abdelkrim Hassane, 41; Khaled Belkacemi, 60; Aboubaker Thabti, 44; Azzeddine Soufiane, 57 and Ibrahima Barry, 39. Five other people were critically injured and about a dozen suffered minor injuries in the attack.

“We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a center of worship and refuge,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement. “It is heart- wrenching to see such senseless violence. Di- versity is our strength, and religious tolerance is a value that we, as Canadians, hold dear.”

Trump called Trudeau on Monday to express condolences about the mosque attack.

The assault occurred amid a global uproar this weekend over Trump’s temporary ban on admitting into the United States refugees and immigrants from seven majority- Muslim countries.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims noted an increase in hate crimes, with at least a dozen mosques vandalized last year across the country. However, no incidents of anti- Muslim killings had occurred until now.

The Quebec City mosque was the target of a hate crime during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in June. In that incident, a worshiper found a pig’s head left at the mosque’s doorstep. A note with it said: “Bon appétit,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Islam prohibits eating pork.

Since Trudeau’s party won election in 2015, Canada has admitted 39,000 Syrian refugees. Trump’s executive order issued Friday bans Syrians from entering the U. S. indefinitely.

Mohamed Labidi, vice president of the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre, said Islamophobia has been growing.

“It’s because the tragedies ( terror attacks) that happened in France and other countries, the media always repeats and stresses the word ‘ Muslim, Muslim, Muslim,’” he said. “I don’t blame the media because they’re doing their job of informing the public of what happened, but maybe do better to not invite Islamophobia.” Contributing: Oren Dorell in McLean, Va.

ALICE CHICHE, AFP/ GETTY IMAGES People place flowers at a makeshift memorial near the Islamic Cultural Center in Quebec City on Monday. A gunman stormed into a Quebec mosque during Sunday evening prayers.