Quebec mosque attack: Student Alexandre Bissonnette charged

Canadian police have charged a French-Canadian student over the fatal shooting of
six Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Quebec.
Alexandre Bissonnette was charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five of
attempted murder.
The 27-year-old is due to appear in a Quebec City court over Sunday evening's
attack, during evening prayers at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre.
Vigils are being held across Canada to commemorate those killed and injured.
More than 50 people were at the mosque when the shooting erupted just before
20:00 on Sunday.
Five people are still in hospital with injuries and another 12 people with minor
injuries were treated and released, said hospital officials.
A man of Moroccan heritage who was also arrested after the attack, Mohamed Khadir,
is now being treated as a witness.
Quebec provincial police have released the names of all six victims who were killed:
Father-of-three Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, a grocer and butcher
Khaled Belkacemi, 60, a professor in the food science department at Laval
University
Father-of-three, Abdelkrim Hassen, 41, an IT worker for the government
Aboubaker Thabti, 44, and two Guinean nationals, Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, and
Ibrahima Barry, 39
The suspect was arrested in his car on a bridge leading from Quebec City to Ile
d'Orleans, where he called police to say he wanted to cooperate with the authorities.
According to CBC News, Mr Bissonnette studied political science and anthropology at
Laval University, whose campus is about 3km (two miles) away from the mosque.
The Montreal Gazette reports that the suspect dressed up as the Grim Reaper for
Halloween, according to his Facebook page, which has now been taken offline.
On the social network, he also reportedly "liked" US President Donald Trump and
French National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
Francois Deschamps, an official with an advocacy group, Welcome to Refugees, said
the suspect was known for his far-right views.
"It's with pain and anger that we learn the identity of terrorist Alexandre Bissonnette,
unfortunately known to many activists in Quebec for taking nationalist, pro-Le Pen
and anti-feminist positions at Laval University and on social media," Mr Deschamps
wrote on organisation's Facebook page.