Three males have been injured after attempting to subdue a person armed with a knife throughout afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
The incident occurred at round 1:40 p.m. on the Centre Culturel Musulman in Châteauguay, an off-island suburb of Montreal.
Châteauguay police bought a 911 name reporting {that a} man had entered the constructing on Saint Jean Baptiste Boulevard with a knife after which bought into an altercation with individuals who have been inside, stated police spokesperson Nadia Grondin.
The three males are of their 50s and their accidents will not be thought of life-threatening. Certainly one of them was despatched to hospital.
Police arrested the suspect, a 24-year-old man, who is ready to be questioned by investigators.
Law enforcement officials are proven outdoors the Centre Culturel Musulman in Chateauguay, Que., Friday September 20, 2024. Three males have been injured after a 24-year-old man entered a mosque southwest of Montreal armed with a knife. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
In a submit on X, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed expressed sympathies with the wounded males and the congregation, saying that he was “disturbed to study that three individuals have been injured in an assault.”
“Nobody ought to really feel afraid of their place of worship,” Trudeau wrote.
Federal Conservative chief Pierre Poilievre additionally reacted to the incident.
“Canada’s locations of religion needs to be the place our individuals really feel protected,” he stated on X.
In line with the mosque’s administrator, Rachid Amane, the suspect entered the constructing and began performing suspiciously.
There have been roughly 100 males, ladies, and youth contained in the place of worship on the time when prayers have been stopped as a number of males approached the suspect.
The three males suffered accidents to their arms and one in every of them was wounded on his physique when the armed man resisted them, Amane instructed CTV Information. The person was detained till police arrived on scene.
In a press release on social media, the Nationwide Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) stated it was “tremendously involved” by the incident.
“We’re in contact with the native centre and can present extra data because it turns into obtainable. Nonetheless, we don’t have data at this level to make a suggestion as to the motivation behind the incident, and we encourage our neighborhood to not speculate because the investigation continues,” the NCCM wrote on X.
Amane stated this isn’t the primary time there was a violent incident on the mosque. Practically a decade in the past, a suspected handmade explosive gadget was left there nevertheless it didn’t go off.
The administrator stated he wasn’t conscious of any particular threats main as much as the incident on Friday and believes the suspect, who didn’t say something threatening, was performing alone.
Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s Particular Consultant on Combatting Islamophobia, additionally reacted on social media, writing that the incident was “very distressing” and that she was ready for extra details about what occurred.
With recordsdata from CTV Montreal’s Caroline Van Vlaardingen and The Canadian Press