Quebec mosque shooting: Police arrest a suspect and a witness

Police say one person is being treated as a
suspect in a deadly shooting at a mosque in
Quebec City, Canada.
Sunday's attack on the Quebec Islamic Cultural
Centre left six people dead, five people in a
critical condition and 12 others injured.
Police detained two men following the shooting,
but said one of them was being treated as a
witness.
One man was arrested at the scene and a second
man held after he called 911, police said.
Who has been arrested?
One suspect, reportedly a French-Canadian
university student, is expected to appear in a
Quebec City courtroom on Monday afternoon.
He had no police record before the incident,
authorities said.
A man of Moroccan descent who was also
arrested is now being considered a witness, law
enforcement sources have told local media.
Investigators have yet to give a motive for the
shootings, citing an ongoing investigation.
Canadian authorities said they did not believe
there were any additional suspects and they were
confident the threat was "under control".
At the scene - Jessica Murphy, BBC News
The streets around the mosque are mostly
deserted except for the police investigators milling
around the cordoned-off site.
Noemie Roussel Paradis is standing alone across
from the empty mosque holding a Quran. She is a
proud convert to Islam and came to pay her
respects after "this murder, this attack, this act of
terrorism", even though this was not the mosque
where she prays.
"This is Allah's home, and there was blood spilled
on the floor," she said.
She said it's likely that she shared a Ramadan
meal with one of the people who was in the
mosque during the attack. "The only thing we can
do now is cry and hope that Allah will make those
responsible face their actions," she said.
Nearby, Martin St-Louis is holding a large
wooden board, its painted message carrying a
call for peace.
"Where terror stands or walks, peace must
stand," he said. "I'm no philosopher or priest, but
for those people who fall, we have to stand."
More than 50 people were at the mosque when
shots were fired.
The six dead were aged between about 35 and
65, Canadian authorities have confirmed.
Azzedine Soufiane, a father of three children and
a businessman, was among those killed in the
attacks, the BBC confirmed.
He was active in welcoming new immigrants to
Quebec City.
Police have also increased security efforts at all
religious sites in the province as 75 provincial
officers work on the case.
Was this a terrorist attack?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec
Premier Philippe Couillard both described the
shooting as a terrorist attack, but authorities
were reluctant to label it as such.
The attack came as protests over US President
Donald Trump's travel ban on several Muslim
countries gripped the US.
When asked if Mr Trump's actions influenced the
attack, Mr Couillard said no, but added: "We are
obviously in a world where people tend to divide
themselves rather than unite themselves".
Mr Trump called Mr Trudeau on Monday to offer
his condolences and any assistance in the wake
of the attack.
The president of the mosque, Mohamed Yangui -
who was not inside at the time - said the
shooting had happened in the men's section of
the mosque.
"Why is this happening here? This is barbaric," he
said.
On its Facebook page the centre thanked the
public "for the hundreds of messages of
compassion".
In June last year the same mosque was the
target of an Islamophobic incident when a pig's
head was left in front of the building, with a card
saying "bonne appetit".
Eating pork is forbidden in Islam.
Quebec's immigrant community
The province has welcomed thousands of
immigrants from Arab countries and other
nations.
But it has also struggled with what it means to
accommodate those newcomers into the
province's broader whole.
The predominantly French-speaking province
fiercely protects its linguistic identity and its
secularism, and there has been a longstanding
debate over the "reasonable accommodation" of
immigrants and religious minorities.
Arab Canadians have settled in Quebec, especially
from countries with some French cultural
background such as Lebanon, Algeria, and
Tunisia.
Many found jobs and built communities, but have
also said they felt targeted by some of the
political rhetoric.
For example, proposals to ban the niqab have
found more fertile ground in the province than in
other parts of the country.
Quebec also has strong political links to France,
where similar debates have raged.
In recent months, there have been reports across
the province of Islamophobic incidents, including
one targeting the Ste-Foy mosque.
Despite the message of unity from across the
political spectrum and the population in the wake
of the attack, Haroun Bouazzi, president of a
human rights group in Montreal, says that
"Quebec Muslims are frightened right now".