Six People Were Killed, 8 Injured When Two Gunmen Fired into Quebec Mosque (Video)

Swat team police officer walk aournd a mosque after a shooting in Quebec City - CREDIT: MATHIEU BELANGER

January 30, 2017, 9:36 AM (IDT) 

Two gunmen entered a Quebec City mosque in Canada during evening Sunday prayers in what the Canadian prime minister called a “terrorist attack on Muslims”, and shot dead six people. Another eight were injured.

One of the gunmen was arrested near the mosque and the other about 40 km away near Ile d’Orleans. 

An eyewitness saw heavily armed tactical police entering the mosque, Reuters reported. Police spokesman Etienne Doyon declined to say whether there was a gunman inside the mosque.

Local newspaper Le Soleil said it had obtained information that one of the suspects was a 27-year-old with “a Québec name”, and one had an AK-47 automatic weapon in his possession. Police, however, have not released nor confirmed these details.

A witness told CBC’s French-language service Radio-Canada that two masked individuals entered the mosque. 

“It seemed to me that they had a Quebecois accent. They started to fire, and they they shot they yelled, ‘Allahu akbar!’ The bullets hit people that were praying. People who were praying lost their lives. A bullet passed right over my head,” said the witness who asked to remain anonymous. 

“There were even kids. There was even a three-year-old who was with his father.” 

The mosque has about 5,000 members and is one of six in the Quebec City region.

The mayor of Gatineau, Quebec near Canada’s capital of Ottawa, said there would be increased police presence at mosques around his city following the attack.

The New York Police Department said it was stepping up patrols at mosques and other hours of worships in its city.

The NYPD issued a statement on Sunday night saying Critical Response Command personnel had been “assigned to extended tour coverage” at certain mosques.

“NYPD is providing additional protection for mosques in the city. All New Yorkers should be vigilant. If you see something, say something,” Bill de Blasio, New York City mayor, said on Twitter.

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