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User:Soulscanner/Sandbox/Quebec City Mosque Shooting

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Perpetrator edit

Childhood edit

Adult edit

Shooting edit

The shooting took place after nightly evening prayers at the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec City in the Ste-Foy suburb of Quebec City between 7:54 and 7:56 p.m EST on Sunday 29 January 2017 . The shooter, 27-year-old Alexandre Bissonnette, murdered 6 people, seriously injured another 5, and attempted to murder 35 others (including 4 children) while firing five 10-round magazines from a 9 mm Glock semi-automatic pistol.[1][2] The perputrator fled the scene and gave himself up to police later that evening, and would plead guilty as charged to 6 counts of first degree murder and 6 counts of attempted murder with a restricted firearm on January 30, 2017. Detailed facts of the attack using witness testimony and six security cameras were made public during the perpetrator's sentencing hearing by the Crown from April 11 to 19, 2018. A detailed history and psychological portrait of the perpetrator was presented by the Defence from April 23 to 25 and the Crown on April 26.[1] Superior Court judge François Huot prohibited publication of the video footage, but allowed the media in attendance to publish descriptions.[3] Details were summarized in the sentence handed down on February 8, 2019.[1]

Motive edit

Weapons and Planning edit

In the month before the shooting, the gunman was on leave from his job at Héma-Québec with an anxiety disorder flollowing an altercation with a coworker. He was also on vacation from his university program of study in political science. He was due to go back to work the day after the shooting. During his time off, he would regularly visit Islamophobic websites and searched for information on mass shooters.

On the day of the shooting, he had breakfast while reading sites dealing with jihadi attacks, mass murder, and suicide. Through the afternoon, he became drunk by consuming [sake] as he read about mass shooters. When he learned from television that the Canadian government would begin to welcome refugee claimants worried about Trump administration immigration policies and showing up at the U.S. border, he decided to proceed with the long-planned shooting. [1][4] At 4:14 p.m., the shooter visited the Facebook page of the Quebec City Mosque. At 5:28 p.m., he went to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Twitter account and read the tweet welcoming those seeking refuge in Canada.[5] He went to his parents house for dinner, and went to his room to look at more websites on mass shootings and suicide.[1]

At 7:00 p.m., Alexandre Bissonette left his parents home armed with a concealed 9mm semi-automatic Glock pistol in his pocket and a Czech semi-automatic .223 calibe rifle that he had packed into a guitar case. He told his parents he was going to run errands and practice shooting at a gun club he frequented weekly. He drove his parents Mitsubishi directly to the Mosque.[3][1] At 7:37 p.m., he hesitated to follow through with the shooting and Bissonnette drove 500 m to a convenience store to buy and quickly drink a 473 ml can of Smirnoff Ice Melon[3][6] He then returned to the mosque. Believing he had been seen in possession of firearms and that he would be caught anyways, he decided to go through with the shooting.[1]

Attack edit

Prayers at the mosque started at 7:30 p.m. and ran for about 15 minutes. About half the attendees left; 46 people remained for individual prayers and socializing in the large prayer hall. It was a cold, snowy evening at -22 Celsius, so no one lingered outside the building.[3]

Just before 7:54 p.m, Bissonette walked up the snow-covered driveway to the front of the mosque, opened the case carrying he rifle, and loaded it. Brothers Mamadou Barry, age 42, and Ibrahimi Barry, age 39, put on their winter coats in the lobby of the mosque as others in the main room socialized or prayed privately. Just after 7:54, they left the building. The gunman pointed the rifle at them and pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed. Frightened, the brothers backed against the door, slipped on the ice, and fell.[7] The shooter dropped the rifle, feigned a smile to pretend it was a joke, and took out the handgun from under his coat. The Barry brothers quickly got up to flee, but Bissonette opened fire cathing Ibrihima in the left arm, back, and abdomen, causing him to collapse. Bisonnette then approached the fallen victim, shooting him in the head. Mamadou Barry, hit in the shoulder and thigh, managed to flee before collapsing several feet away. The shooter then approached, stood over the victim, and shot him in the head from abouth 30 cm away.[1]

Two other worshippers at the doorway saw the gunman come towards the door and scrambled down the lobby corridor through the archway that separated the lobby from the main prayer room. Panic ensued in the prayer room. Ahmed Ech-Chahedy who heard the initial shots quickly took three young boys standing near the archway entrance across the prayer room to the mihrab.[1][7] The shooter then entered the mosque emptying his Glock pistol with 10 shots. He strategically used the chaos his shots created to retreat into the lobby, rifle through several pockets in his coat for another cartridge, and reload his weapon. Several men rushed into the mihrab, others escaped through emergency exists, but some like Said El Amari are forced to jump to the ground protecting their heads. Hakim Chambaz managed to grab a little girl frozen by panic and hide her behind a column in the middle of the prayer room. Ibrahim Bekkari Sbaï called 911. [1]

At 7:55 p.m., the shooter reentered the prayer room. He would calmly and purposefully fire 30 round in 30 seconds from the entrance archway during the second spree and would particularly target people attempting to take cover near the mihrab and the Immam's office. Bissonette shot at people hiding in the mihrab killing Khaled Belkacemi, a 60-year-old University of Laval professor, in the alcove fo the mihrab.[3][1] He also attempted without success to shoot Ahmed Ech-Chahedy and the three children as they ran along a wall towards an emergency exit from the the mihrab. Abdelkrim Hassane, age 41, was killed in the hail of bullets near the Immam's office.

Aymen Derbali sat in his usual spot for prayer at the side of the main hall when he deliberately locked eyes with the gunman as he moved closer to him. Darbali saw a determination in Bissonnetes eyes to kill everyone in the room.[8] He tried to distract the shooter from targeting the more crowded areas of the mosque by crouching and lurching toward the shooter as if to jump him, and was shot in the knee and chin. As Darbali slumped and crawled on the floor, Bissonnette relentlessly shot him six more times. Darbali would survive . Darbali would see flashes of his daughter before passing out, and woke up 2 months later in the hospital as a quadrapalegif. When Bissonnete learned in prison that Darbali had survived and was crowd-funding to help with his rehabilitation, he was incredulous that he hadn't killed him. [9] Bissonette then went after 44-year-old Aboubaker Thabti with equal brutality, murdering him at point blank range with three bullets to the skull.

About 20 seconds into the second spree, 57-year-old Azzeddine Soufiane, a cheerful local grocer and butcher who had intialy taken refuge near the mihrab, rushed the perputrator.[10]. He screamed to spur on nearby Merouane Rachidi and Mohamed Khabar to do the same. He drove the shooter into a shoe rack against the wall[7] yelling "Stop, Stop!",[10] but Bissonnete managed to push Soufiane back far enough to free his hand and shoot him twice in the body[1]. When the others saw Soufiane fall, they stopped in their tracks. The gunman then shot Nizar Gali in the back, Said Akjour in the left shoulder as he hid in the mihrab,[11] and caught Mohamed Khabar in the knee and foot as he retreated toward mihrab.[10]

The gunman retreated into the lobby a second time, reloaded his weapon, and returned to the prayer room in 4 seconds. Finding Soufiani still moving, the assailant put a final bullet in his head.[1] The attacker then moved into the prayer room to a second archway to seek out and get a better angle for shooting people hiding in different parts of the room[3]. He would hit Saïd El Amari in the abdomen,[1] but most people who crowded in the mihrab were well protected.[7]

At 7:56, the shooter finally fled back out the main entrance and drove away in his father's car. He kept one bullet in his pistol to end his life in the Charlevoix woods north of the city.[1] Police would recover a total of 4 magazines and 48 9-mm casings from the attackers Glock pistol at the scene.[1][2]

Aftermath edit

Emergency response edit

During the shooting at around 7:55 pm, Ibrahim Bekkari Sbaï managed to call the 911 emergency service and police were dispatched.[1] Seconds after the perpetrator left the scene, Mohamed Belkadhir, a University of Laval engineering student who had left the meeting to shovel snow, arrived at the mosque entrance and called 911 on his cellphone when he found the Barry brothers.[7][12] He checked inside the mosque, then returned to tend the first two victims, removing his coat to cover Mamadou who still showed signs of life. When police arrived with their weapons drawn, he ran for his life believing the killer had returned. Police also found Bissonnettes abandonned rifle with 28 rounds in the magazine at the scene.[1][2] Belkadhir was arrested as a suspect and held overnight;[13] he would be interrogated as a witness and immediately released the next morning. Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).[14] Reports of the arrest would lead to rumors and online conspiracy theories of a second shooter.[3] Police released an affidavit in March 2017 to confirm details of this arrest.[15] Police created a dragnet and closed the bridge to Île d'Orléans while searching for suspects.

In early reports, witnesses reported the gunman wearing either a hood or a ski mask,[16][17] and shooting worshippers lingering in the mosque after prayer.[18][19][17][20] Another witness said the attacker walked into the mosque after the evening prayer and started shooting anything that moved and left after emptying his weapon.[21] A man who presented himself as a witness said two attackers dressed in black and with Québécois accents entered the mosque and shouted "Allahu Akbar" before shooting.[20][22]

At 8:09 pm, the perpetrator contacted 9-1-1 to surrender after stopping his father's car on Autoroute 40 about 10 km north of the crime scene.[23][24] He was going to Grands-Jardins National Park to commit suicide, but fear for his family and of the Final Judgement stopped him.[1] The perpetrator repeatedly asked if he had hurt anyone and said he wanted to kill himself. He appeared anxious that the police would kill him.[25] The operator calmed the perpetrator until the police arrived at 8:37 pm.

At 9:00 pm, the police arrested Alexandre Bissonnette. They noted that the subject smelled of alcohol. They found a hunting knife on the drivers seat. In the back seat, police found a second magazine containing 29 .223 calibre rounds for his abandonned rifle, and his Glock pistol with two remaining bullets.[1]

At 10:00 pm, fearing a second killer, police began treating the attack as a terrorist incident and activated the Structure de gestion policière contre le terrorisme (SGPCT) (Structure of police management against terrorism) protocol, giving control of the investigation to the provincial Integrated National Security Enforcement Team—a joint anti-terrorism task force comprising the Montreal police, the Sûreté du Québec, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.[19][17][26] At 10:40 pm, police declared the situation under control, with the building secured and the occupants evacuated.[20] Police later determined that there was only one gunman and said only one of the detained individuals was considered a suspect. [20][22][27]

Philippe Pichet, the chief of Montreal police, and Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, the mayor of Gatineau, both announced their cities would increase security around local mosques.[28] Martin Coiteux, the provincial public security minister, said religious buildings in the province would be protectively surveilled, those in the capital by the Quebec City police.[20]

The injured were transported to different hospitals in Quebec City,[17] such as the L'Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus and the Centre hospitalier de l'Université Laval.[29] Early reports all identified 6 people killed, but differed on the number injured. Some reported 17 injured[30], 5 injured, 12 minor injuries [31] 19 people injured, [32][33] 8 injured.[34]

Arrest and Interrogation edit

Drive north 911 Call Arrest Police Interrogation


The shooter left the scene in his vehicle driving north [1]

Victims edit

Hakim Chambaz managed to grab a little girl frozen by panic and hide her behind a column in the middle of the prayer room. Ibrahim Bekkari Sbaï called 911. [1]


Aymen Derbali sat in his usual spot for prayer at the side of the main hall when he deliberately locked eyes with the gunman as he moved closer to him. Darbali saw a determination in Bissonnetes eyes to kill everyone in the room.[8] He tried to distract the shooter from targeting the more crowded areas of the mosque by crouching and lurching toward the shooter as if to jump him, and was shot in the knee and chin. As Darbali slumped and crawled on the floor, Bissonnette relentlessly shot him six more times. Darbali would survive . Darbali would see flashes of his daughter before passing out, and woke up 2 months later in the hospital as a quadrapalegif. When Bissonnete learned in prison that Darbali had survived and was crowd-funding to help with his rehabilitation, he was incredulous that he hadn't killed him. [35]

About 20 seconds into the second spree, 57-year-old Azzeddine Soufiane, a cheerful local grocer and butcher who had intialy taken refuge near the mihrab, rushed the perputrator.[10]. He screamed to spur on nearby Merouane Rachidi and Mohamed Khabar to do the same. He drove the shooter into a shoe rack against the wall[7] yelling "Stop, Stop!",[10] but Bissonnete managed to push Soufiane back far enough to free his hand and shoot him twice in the body[1]. When the others saw Soufiane fall, they stopped in their tracks. The gunman then shot Nizar Gali in the back, Said Akjour in the left shoulder as he hid in the mihrab,[36] and caught Mohamed Khabar in the knee and foot as he retreated toward mihrab.[10]

Aftermath edit

Emergency response edit

During the shooting around 7:55 pm, Ibrahim Bekkari Sbaï managed to call the 911 emergency service and police were dispatched. Seconds after the perpetrator left the scene, Mohamed Belkadhir, a University of Laval engineering student who had left the meeting to shovel snow, arrived at the mosque entrance and called 911 on his cellphone when he found the Barry brothers.[7][37] He checked inside the mosque, then returned to tend the first two victims, removing his coat to cover Mamadou who still showed signs of life. When police arrived with their weapons drawn, he ran for his life believing the killer had returned. Police also found Bissonnettes abandonned rifle with 28 rounds in the magazine at the scene.[1][2] Belkadhir was arrested as a suspect and held overnight;[38] he would be interrogated as a witness and immediately released the next morning. Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).[14] Reports of the arrest would lead to rumors and online conspiracy theories of a second shooter.[3][39][40] Police released an affidavit in March 2017 to confirm details of this arrest.[41] Police created a dragnet and closed the bridge to Île d'Orléans while searching for suspects.

At 8:09 pm, the perpetrator contacted 9-1-1 to surrender after stopping his father's car on Autoroute 40 about 10 km north of the crime scene.[23][24] He was going to Grands-Jardins National Park to commit suicide, but fear for his family and of the Final Judgement stopped him.[1] The perpetrator repeatedly asked if he had hurt anyone and said he wanted to kill himself. He appeared anxious that the police would kill him.[25] The operator calmed the perpetrator until the police arrived at 8:37 pm.

At 9:00 pm, the police arrested Alexandre Bissonnette. They noted that the subject smelled of alcohol. They found a hunting knife on the drivers seat. In the back seat, police found a second magazine containing 29 .223 calibre rounds for his abandonned rifle, and his Glock pistol with two remaining bullets.[1]

In early reports, witnesses reported the gunman wearing either a hood or a ski mask,[16][17] and shooting worshippers lingering in the mosque after prayer.[18][19][17][20] Another witness said the attacker walked into the mosque after the evening prayer and started shooting anything that moved and left after emptying his weapon.[21] A man who presented himself as a witness said two attackers dressed in black and with Québécois accents entered the mosque and shouted "Allahu Akbar" before shooting.[20][22]

At 10:00 pm, fearing a second killer, police began treating the attack as a terrorist incident and activated the Structure de gestion policière contre le terrorisme (SGPCT) (Structure of police management against terrorism) protocol, giving control of the investigation to the provincial Integrated National Security Enforcement Team—a joint anti-terrorism task force comprising the Montreal police, the Sûreté du Québec, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.[19][17][42] At 10:40 pm, police declared the situation under control, with the building secured and the occupants evacuated.[20] Police later determined that there was only one gunman and said only one of the detained individuals was considered a suspect. [20][22][27]

Philippe Pichet, the chief of Montreal police, and Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, the mayor of Gatineau, both announced their cities would increase security around local mosques.[28] Martin Coiteux, the provincial public security minister, said religious buildings in the province would be protectively surveilled, those in the capital by the Quebec City police.[20]

The injured were transported to different hospitals in Quebec City,[17] such as the L'Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus and the Centre hospitalier de l'Université Laval.[43] Early reports all identified 6 people killed, but differed on the number injured. Some reported 17 injured[30], 5 injured, 12 minor injuries [31] 19 people injured, [32][33] 8 injured.[34]

Police investigation edit

Victims edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Cite error: The named reference QvB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d Page, Julia (2018-04-05). "Videos of fatal mosque attack show shooter reload as victims seek cover". CBC. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Riga, Andy (2018-04-12). "Quebec mosque shooting: Chilling videos show a calm, calculated killer". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  4. ^ Riga, Andy (2018-04-23). "Inside the life of Quebec mosque killer Alexandre Bissonnette". Montreal Gazette. Montreal. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  5. ^ Trudeau, Justin [@JustinTrudeau] (January 28, 2017). "To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada" (Tweet). Retrieved 2021-04-25 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ "Video shows Bissonnette in Couche Tard store minutes before mosque shooting". Globe and Mail. 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Perreaux, Les (2018-04-11). "Video of attack on Quebec City mosque shows 'heroic' bravery of victims". Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  8. ^ a b Peritz, Ingrid (2018-04-11). "At the Quebec mosque shooting, this man risked his life to save others. Who will save him now?". Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  9. ^ Marin, Stephanie (2018-04-26). "Mosque shooter shocked that victim he shot 7 times didn't die". MacLean's. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Page, Julia (2018-04-18). "Quebec City mosque shooting victim hailed as hero for trying to disarm gunman". CBC News. Canadian Broadcast Corporation. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  11. ^ Wheeler, Marika (2018-01-27). "I'm not here by chance: One mosque shooting victim's journey of healing". CBC News. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  12. ^ Hinksom, Kamila (2017-01-31). "Witness arrested in Quebec mosque shooting isn't holding a grudge". CBC News. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  13. ^ Riga, Andy (March 3, 2017). "Police describe bloody scene after Quebec City mosque shooting". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  14. ^ a b Woods, Allan; Poisson, Jayme (January 30, 2017). "Quebec police say one of the men arrested in mosque attack is now considered a witness". Toronto Star. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  15. ^ Woods, Alan (March 3, 2017). "How police responded to Quebec mosque shooting". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  16. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Qui sont was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h Cite error: The named reference Washington Post shooting 2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference auto was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ a b c d Perraux, Les (January 29, 2017). "'Quebec City is in mourning': Six dead, eight wounded in mass shooting at mosque". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "6 dead, 2 arrested after shooting at Quebec City mosque". CBC News. January 30, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  21. ^ a b Kassam, Ashifa; Lartey, Jamles (January 29, 2017). "Québec City mosque shooting: six dead as Trudeau condemns 'terrorist attack'". The Guardian. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  22. ^ a b c d Ling, Justin (January 29, 2017). "Six dead in Quebec mosque attack". Vice News. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  23. ^ a b Riga, Andy. "Quebec shooting: Court hears killer fretting in 9-1-1 call about whether anyone injured". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  24. ^ a b "Alexandre Bissonnette's call to 911". CBC News. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  25. ^ a b Page, Julia (2018-04-12). "Court hears 911 call: Quebec City mosque shooter asks if people are injured". CBC News. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  26. ^ "Suspect in Quebec Mosque Shooting Calls Police to Surrender". The Quint. January 30, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  27. ^ a b "Attaque terroriste dans une mosquée de Québec" (in French). CBC/Radio-Canada. January 30, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  28. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Condemn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ "Attentat terroriste dans une mosquée : ce que l'on sait". TVA Nouvelles (in French). January 29, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  30. ^ a b Dienst, Jonathan; Schecter, Anna R.; Blankstein, Andrew; Saliba, Emmanuelle; Connor, Tracy (January 31, 2017). "Quebec 'Terrorist Attack': College Student Alexandre Bissonnette Charged". Comcast Corporation. NBC News. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  31. ^ a b Chamberlain, Samuel; Gaydos, Ryan. "Suspect charged with murder in Quebec mosque terror attack". Fox News Channel. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  32. ^ a b "Two victims still critical after terror attack on Quebec City mosque". Toronto Star. The Canadian Press. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  33. ^ a b "Student charged with Quebec mosque attack". BBC News. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  34. ^ a b McKirdy, Euan; Newton, Paula (January 30, 2017). "Six dead in Quebec mosque shooting". CNN. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  35. ^ Marin, Stephanie (2018-04-26). "Mosque shooter shocked that victim he shot 7 times didn't die". MacLean's. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  36. ^ Wheeler, Marika (2018-01-27). "I'm not here by chance: One mosque shooting victim's journey of healing". CBC News. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  37. ^ Hinksom, Kamila (2017-01-31). "Witness arrested in Quebec mosque shooting isn't holding a grudge". CBC News. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  38. ^ Riga, Andy (March 3, 2017). "Police describe bloody scene after Quebec City mosque shooting". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  39. ^ Cite error: The named reference SuspectsIdentified was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  40. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  41. ^ Woods, Alan (March 3, 2017). "How police responded to Quebec mosque shooting". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  42. ^ "Suspect in Quebec Mosque Shooting Calls Police to Surrender". The Quint. January 30, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  43. ^ "Attentat terroriste dans une mosquée : ce que l'on sait". TVA Nouvelles (in French). January 29, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
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