A shooting at a Quebec City mosque on Sunday evening killed six people and wounded eight, police said on Monday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier called the shooting “a terrorist attack on Muslims.”
The shooting came over the weekend that Prime Minister Trudeau said 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 United States on national security grounds.
Five people were critically injured in the mosque attack and remained in intensive care, three of them in life-threatening condition, a spokeswoman for the Quebec City University Hospital said on Monday.
Another 12 people were treated for minor injuries, she said. A father of four, the owner of a halal butcher near the mosque, was among those killed, said Pamela Sakinah El-hayet, a friend of one of the people at the mosque.
The mosque concierge was killed, as was Ahmed Youness, a 21-year-old student, El-hayet told Reuters. One of El-hayet’s friends, Youness’ roommate, was in the mosque at the time of the shooting. He was unharmed, she said, but in total shock.
Two suspects were under arrest after the shooting-Alexandre Bissonnette, a French-Canadian and the other Mohamed Khadir, who is of Moroccan heritage.
Pope Francis offered his condolences to Cardinal Gerald Cyprien LaCroix, Archbishop of Quebec, who was visiting Rome on Monday. Francis said he was praying for the victims of the attack.
“The pope underlined how important it is in these moments that everyone remains united in prayer, Christians and Muslims,” the Vatican said in a statement.
