'I never expected such a thing in Quebec': Mourners hold vigil at scene of mosque attack
Victims include well-liked shopkeeper, influential food scientist and other middle-class Muslim men
It's nota communityknown for violence.
WhileMontreal has been the site of some of the country's worst mass murders in recent memory, be it thePolytechniquemassacre or Dawson College, Quebec Cityhas previouslyavoided violence on that scale.
Last year in the city, there was only one homicide on record, and the murder before that came some 16 months prior, which might helpexplain why the people of Quebec City were so badly shaken Monday in the wake of therampage at a mosque on Sunday.
Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, has been charged with six countsof first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder while usinga restricted firearm.
It reminds me of when I lived inYemen always we had bombings everywhere. I said to myself today, why is this culture following me everywhere?- SalahAbdullah
"What happened has really shocked me.I never expect such a thing in Quebec City," Salah Abdullah, a distraught Laval University doctoral student, said in an interview with CBC News, as he looked on at the defiledmosque Monday.
"I never lock the door of my house.It's really very safe. It reminds me of when I lived inYemen always we had bombings everywhere. I said to myself today, why is this culture following me everywhere?"
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Now that sort of horror has washed up on the shores of the St. Lawrence River in the heartland ofla belle province, as a gunmanwithunknown motivationsindiscriminately killed six Muslim men Sunday, injuring 19 others, some critically.
Prime Minister JustinTrudeauaddressedthe vigil Monday night only steps away from themosque."The community lived through an experience that no community should ever have to cope with:indescribable violence targeted at individuals that had met in friendship and in faith," he said.
Abdullah isa regular parishioner at theCentre CulturelIslamique de Qubec, a nondescriptstructure that looks as if it would be more at home in a suburban corporate park rather than a place of worshipnestled between historic row housesin North America's oldest city.
He came to the scene of the crimelike many other Quebecers, to engage in a process of collective mourning.
The vigil was eerily quiet, despite the presence of thousands crammed into a smallcordoned-off area.Among the few audible sounds was sobbing from a multicultural group of mourners.
The Yemen-born Abdullah hadskipped Sunday prayer, he said, narrowly avoiding the gunfire,but wouldn't miss thechance to say good-bye to those he knew who lost their lives at the hands of the gunman.
A relative newcomer to the area, Abdullah said his heart ached for one victim in particular,Azzedine Soufiane, who owned a halalcorner store adpanneur only a few blocks from the mosque,a favourite destination for locals with a hankering for the delicacies of theMiddle East.
Abdullah said Soufiane was particularly close to his youngest daughter.
"What came to mind when they told me Azzedine had passed away was, 'Oh my God, how can his daughter survive without her dad.' I feel bad for the daughter. I remember her hugging him and playing with him in the shop."
Amadi Bouameid, another local man, shuffling along the streets around the mosque Monday, said Azzedinewas a pillar of the community, always willing to lend a helping hand. "Hewas someone kind. It's truly sad that this happened."
Community leadersimplored reportersto tell the stories of the dead, and remember them not only as statistics.
According to the Quebec coroner's office, the victims are:
- Azzeddine Soufiane, 57.
- Khaled Belkacemi, 60.
- Aboubaker Thabti, 44.
- Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42.
- Ibrahima Barry, 39.
- Abdelkrim Hassane, 41.
"I want for the media to personify the dead people,each one. It's a family, a partner, part of a family, a father, and I want this humanity to be in your media,"MohamedLabidi, the former president of the mosque, said at an emotional press conference flanked by Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard and Rgis Labeaume, Quebec's mayor, ahead of the vigil.
"We have professor at university, we have shopkeepers, and we have many key contributors to society."
Khaled Belkacemiwas the professor Labidireferredto an Algerian-born expert ofsoilandagri-foodengineering at Laval University.
"It's a heavy loss," Hani Antoun, an associate professor in the faculty, said in an interview Monday. "He was a very competent man, and well-known in his field."
On his Facebook page, Amir Belkacemisaid his father was loved by all: "My father, a good man, an example of resilience, a man loved by all, a professor and researcher emeritus, a fighter, a man who left his country (Algeria) to give his family a chance to live far away from horror."
Labidi said he was a good friend of Belkacemi. "He wouldn't have hurt anyone. He was so kind
and gentle."
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