Quebec mosque shooting suspect 'called police to confess'
- 1 hour ago
- US & Canada
EPA
One of the two suspects in a deadly shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada, called police about an hour after the incident, authorities said.
Two men opened fire at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre during prayer service on Sunday night, killing six people and injuring 17 others.
The second suspect called 911 to say he was armed and give up his location, police said on Monday.
The Canadian authorities are treating the shooting as a terror attack.
One suspect was arrested at the scene while the second was apprehended in his car on a bridge leading to Orleans island, police confirmed at a news conference on Monday.
Canadian authorities said they did not believe there were any additional suspects and they were confident that the threat was "under control".
Police also refused to release the suspects' names nor comment on a possible motive, citing an ongoing investigation.
The two men, believed to be in their 20s or early 30s, had no prior police record before the incident, authorities said.
Police are also investigating reports that the two men were students at a local university.
More than 50 people were at the mosque when shots were fired.
Among those wounded, five were in critical condition and 12 others sustained minor injuries, according to University of Quebec Hospital Centre spokeswoman Genevieve Dupuis.
The dead were aged between about 35 and 65, Canadian authorities have confirmed.
Police have also increased security efforts at all religious sites in the province while 75 provincial officers were working on the case.
The two suspects may appear in court as early as Monday, officials said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard both described the attack as a terrorist act.
The attack came as protests over US President Donald Trump's travel ban on several Muslim countries gripped the US.
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
Source:BBC NEWS
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