The fatal incident at Quebec City mosque claimed six lives and wounded eight more, the deadly shooting which took place at night has led the police to arrest two suspects, who according to the press, have been identified. One of the suspect is a French-Canadian and the other is of Moroccan heritage. The French-Canadian was identified as Alexandre Bissonnette while the other was identified as Mohamed Khadir.
A report issued by Reuters states that at least one of the suspects in the attack was a student at a nearby Universite Laval. The institution is the oldest French-language university in North America, with a total of 42,500 students.
The police authorities declined to give details of the suspects identities or possible motives behind the attack which took place during the evening prayers at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Quebec. However, legal procedures are currently underway as reported by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police National Security superintendent Martin Plante and as a result, the authorities are not able to make a comment on the identity of the suspects.
Reports from Quebec City Police Inspector Denis Turcotte indicate that one suspect was arrested at the mosque, where the police authorities were called at about 8 P.M. local time, the other suspect turned himself about an hour later. However, the police said that they were confident there were no other suspects that were involved in the attack. The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a statement in which he called the shooting a terrorist attack on Muslims.
The unfortunate incidence took place over the weekend that Trudeau said that Canada would welcome refugees after U.S. President Donald Trump halted the U.S. refugee program and temporarily barred citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.
Reports from the spokeswoman of Quebec City University Hospital said that the victims of the unfortunate incidence included five people who were critically injured in the mosque attack and remained in intensive care, three of them in life-threatening condition. The other 12 people were treated for minor injuries. Among those killed was a father of four, the owner of a halal butcher near the mosque.
El-hayet told Reuters that Ahmed Youness, a 21-year-old student and the mosque concierge were also killed. The motive for the shooting was not known. However, incidents of Islamophobia have rapidly increased in Quebec in the recent past. Back in 2015, the niqab, face-covering became a big issue in the Canadian federal election.
While the motive for the shooting was not known, incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Quebec in recent years. The face-covering, or niqab, became a big issue in the 2015 Canadian federal election, majority of the population supported a ban on the niqab during citizenship ceremonies. The Pope Francis offered his condolences to Cardinal Gerald Cyprien LaCrois, who is the Archbishop of Quebec.
