CORRECTS NAME AND TITLE TO LABIDI FROM LABIBI AND VICE PRESIDENT FROM PRESIDENT - Mohamed Labidi, the vice-president of the mosque where an attack happened, is comforted by Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard,... (Associated Press) 
 
 QUEBEC CITY (AP) — A French Canadian suspect known for his far-right, nationalist views was charged Monday with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder in the shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque that Canada's prime minister called an act of terrorism again Muslims. 
 
 Alexandre Bissonnette made a brief court appearance and did not enter a plea in the attack that left six people dead during evening prayers Sunday. Wearing a white prisoner jump suit, his hands and feet shackled, he stared down at the floor and fidgeted, but did not speak. 
 
 The 27-year-old suspect, who has espoused support for the French far-right party of Marine Le Pen and had liked U.S. President Donald Trump on his Facebook page, was known to those who monitor extremist groups in Quebec, said François Deschamps, an official with a refugee advocacy group. "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," Deschamps wrote on the Facebook page of the group, Bienvenues aux Refugiés, or Welcome to Refugees. 
 
 An anthropology and political science major at Laval University in Quebec City, Bissonnette had also expressed support on his Facebook profile for "Génération Nationale," a group whose manifesto includes the rejection of "multiculturalism." 
 
 More than 50 people were at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre when the shooting erupted. In addition to the six dead, 19 people were wounded — all men. Of the five victims who remained hospitalized, two were in critical condition, authorities said. The dead ranged in age from 39 to 60. 
 
 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard both characterized the attack as a terrorist act, which came amid heightened tensions worldwide over Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim countries. Le Pen, leader of the National Front in France, is known for her anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant positions and has won the endorsement and admiration of white supremacists. 
 
 Canada is generally welcoming toward immigrants and all religions, but the French-speaking province of Quebec has had a long-simmering debate about race and religious accommodation. The previous separatist government of the province called for a ban on ostentatious religious symbols, such as the hijab, in public institutions. 
 
 Trudeau said in Parliament the victims were targeted simply because of their religion and spoke directly to the more than 1 million Muslims who live in Canada, saying, "We are with you." 
 
 "Thirty-six million hearts are breaking with yours," Trudeau said. "Know that we value you." 
 
 The prime minister later attended a vigil outside the mosque. 
 
 The suspect was arrested in his car on a bridge near d'Orleans, where he called 911 to say he wanted to cooperate with police. Authorities, who initially named two suspects, said the other man taken into custody was a witness to the attack and was released earlier Monday. They said they did not believe there were other suspects but were investigating. 
 
 Police did not give a motive for the attack. 
 
 Trump called Trudeau to express condolences to the Canadian people and to offer any assistance that might be needed. 
 
 The White House pointed to the attack as an example of why Trump's policies were needed. "We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. It's a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant and why the president is taking steps to be pro-active, rather than reactive when it comes to our nation's safety and security," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said. 
 
 The victims were businessmen, a university professor and others who had gathered for evening prayers, said Mohamed Labidi, the vice president of the mosque. 
 
 "'It's a very, very big tragedy for us," Labidi said tearfully. "We have a sadness we cannot express." 
 
 He said the victims were shot in the back. "Security at our mosque was our major, major concern," he said. "But we were caught off guard." 
 
 The shooting took place just before 8 p.m. Sunday. Witnesses described chaos as worshippers scrambled to find friends and loved ones, as police responding to the scene called for backup. 
 
 Couillard said he would "not go there" when asked if he blamed recent rhetoric in in the U.S. for the attack. 
 
 "Quebec is a good, generally loving society, but we have these devils as other societies have. We have to recognize that and fight them," Couillard said at a news conference in Quebec City at which he and Muslim leaders held hands in a display of solidarity. 
 
 "The Muslim community was the target of this murderous attack," Couillard said, adding that solidarity rallies would be held across Quebec later Monday. 
 
 The mosque has been a target of hate crimes in the past, including last summer when pig's head was left on its doorstep during Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. Practicing Muslims do not eat pork. 
 
 Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume, appearing shaken, said: "No person should have to pay with their life, for their race, their color, their sexual orientation or their religious beliefs." 
 
 Worshipper Ali Hamadi said he left the mosque a few minutes before the shooting and a friend, Abdelkrim Hassen, was killed. He said Hassen, who worked in information technology for the government, had three daughters and a wife, whom he had to notify of the death. 
 
 Majdi Dridi of the Muslim Association of Canada said he knew two of the victims. One was a work colleague who was a father of three little girls, he said. 
 
 "I don't know what to say, I just hope that his family and his children can have the patience to accept what happened," Dridi said 
 
 Trudeau had earlier reacted to Trump's visa ban for people from some Muslim-majority countries by tweeting Saturday: "To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada." 
 
 Trudeau also posted a picture of himself greeting a Syrian child at Toronto's airport in late 2015. Trudeau oversaw the arrival of more than 39,000 Syrian refugees soon after he was elected. 
 
 The mayor of Gatineau, Quebec, near Canada's capital of Ottawa, said there would be an increased police presence at mosques around his city following the attack. The New York Police Department also said it was stepping up patrols at mosques and other houses of worship. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writer Sean Farrell in Montreal contributed to this report. ||||| The suspect in the deadly attack on a Quebec City mosque was known in the city's activist circles as an online troll who was inspired by extreme right-wing French nationalists, stood up for U.S. President Donald Trump and was against immigration to Quebec – especially by Muslims. 
 
 Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, a student at Laval University, grew up on a quiet crescent in the Cap-Rouge suburb of Quebec City and lived in an apartment a few kilometres away. 
 
 His online profile and school friendships revealed little interest in extremist politics until last March, when France's far-right National Front Leader Marine Le Pen visited Quebec City, inspiring Mr. Bissonnette to vocal extreme online activism, according to people who clashed with him starting around this time. 
 
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 Read more: One suspect in custody after six killed in 'terrorist attack' at Quebec mosque 
 
 Explainer: The Quebec City mosque attack: What we know so far 
 
 Related: Quebec City shooting was act of terror against Canada, Trudeau says 
 
 Vincent Boissoneault, a student in international relations at Laval University, knew Mr. Bissonnette from childhood and was friends with him on Facebook. 
 
 He said they frequently argued over politics when Mr. Bissonnette attacked refugees or expressed support for Ms. Le Pen or Mr. Trump. 
 
 In the wake of Sunday's attack, rumours about the identity of the attacker have run wild alongside speculation about motivation, ranging from white supremacy to Islamic terrorism. 
 
 "I can tell you he was certainly no Muslim convert," Mr. Boissoneault said. "I wrote him off as a xenophobe. I didn't even think of him as totally racist, but he was enthralled by a borderline racist nationalist movement. 
 
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 "It never occurred to me he might be violent," Mr. Boissoneault added, referring to the hard-line anti-immigration sentiment growing in popularity in Europe and elsewhere. 
 
 François Deschamps, an employment counsellor who runs a refugee-support Facebook page, said he immediately recognized Mr. Bissonnette's photo from his frequent appearances online, including on the page he administers. 
 
 "He was someone who made frequent extreme comments in social media denigrating refugees and feminism. It wasn't outright hate, rather part of this new nationalist conservative identity movement that is more intolerant than hateful." 
 
 Both Mr. Boissoneault and Mr. Deschamps recalled Mr. Bissonnette sharing anti-immigration sentiment, especially toward Muslim refugees making their way to Europe from the war-torn Middle East. 
 
 Mr. Bissonnette's Facebook profile was removed from public view just after 11 a.m. Monday along with his comments on other social-media feeds. 
 
 In addition to being a student, Mr. Bissonnette worked in a call centre for Quebec's blood donation agency, Héma-Québec. "These events have sent a shock wave through the organization," the agency said in a news release. It was not clear how long he worked there. 
 
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 Mr. Bissonnette lived on the top floor of a four-storey apartment in a complex of buildings filled with retirees and students. The complex on de la Verdure Street is one kilometre away from the mosque where the shooting took place and a 40-minute walk from the Laval campus. 
 
 Police searched the apartment Monday night and offered no details as they left. 
 
 Sarah-Jeanne Viau, who lived underneath the apartment, said she'd never seen who moved in last fall but there was "all kinds of noises. Steps, jumps, sometimes I'd hear a piano and often yelling." 
 
 Ms. Viau said Monday was one of the quieter evenings from the apartment above hers. 
 
 A couple of nights before the shooting, Ms. Viau said she and her boyfriend were awoken at 3 a.m. by yelling and loud banging from upstairs. 
 
 "It got to the point where I had trouble sleeping," Ms. Viau said. "It's such a ruckus." 
 
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 Piano playing drifted down through her ceiling sometimes. "It was beautiful so I didn't mind it that much," Ms. Viau said, noting the melodies would last late into the night. 
 
 Other neighbours reported seeing Mr. Bissonnette's silver Mitsubishi in the parking lot, but not much of the man himself. Two men living across the hall said they didn't know who lived there but that it was often noisy. 
 
 Before Ms. Le Pen's visit, Mr. Bissonnette's friends say he showed little interest in politics, despite studying the subject at Laval University. 
 
 Former classmates from the CEGEP junior college he attended after high school described him as a quiet, unassuming guy who blended in. "It's scary that this would happen here," said one of the friends, Antoine Cabanac. 
 
 Michel Kingma-Lord, who grew up with Mr. Bissonnette in the Cap-Rouge neighbourhood, said he was "shocked" by the news that his erstwhile friend was suspected in a mass shooting. The two had grown apart in recent years, but spent many happy hours collecting minerals together as boys, scouring the schoolyard for bits of quartz. 
 
 "He was a really good guy," Mr. Kingma-Lord said. "A very generous kind of guy, always listening, polite." 
 
 Mr. Bissonnette studied political science, Mr. Kingma-Lord said, but seemed more interested in the campus chess club than any kind of ideology. "He never posted anything about hate speech," Mr. Kingma-Lord said. 
 
 "He wouldn't share any political ideology. When we talked, it was just normal talk." 
 
 Acquaintances from Mr. Bissonnette's earlier years at Les Compagnons-de-Cartier high school in Quebec City say he was introverted, socially awkward and frequently bullied. Toma Popescu remembered bigger kids teasing Mr. Bissonnette for his slight, pallid appearance and his unfashionable clothing. "He dressed like a country boy," Mr. Popescu said. 
 
 The bullies who targeted Mr. Bissonnette would demand his money and his lunch, even roughing him up, Mr. Popescu added. But Mikael Labrecque Berger said that Mr. Bissonnette wasn't cowed by his social problems at school. 
 
 "He never seemed to take it like personally," Mr. Berger said. "He had an almost happy attitude about it." 
 
 "Someone [would] tell him, 'You're ugly,' and he would say, 'You too are ugly.'" 
 
 Before it was removed, Mr. Bissonnette's Facebook page revealed normal preoccupations of young adulthood. While he "liked" the page of Ms. Le Pen and other right-wing politicians, he also liked Garfield and pop stars such as Katy Perry. 
 
 On Halloween, Mr. Bissonnette posted a picture of himself in a screaming ghoul costume – first popularized by the Scream horror-movie franchise. "Nothing original but it's a classic," he wrote. 
 
 He also posted a photo of himself wearing what appeared to be a cadet uniform several years ago. 
 
 A spokesman for the Canadian Forces confirmed that Mr. Bissonnette had participated in the cadet program from 2002 to 2004 in the Quebec City area. 
 
 Records show he bought a Chevy Malibu with his twin brother, Mathieu, in 2011. They were also chess-club teammates around that time. 
 
 Police searched a house belonging to Mr. Bissonnette's father, Raymond Bissonnette, on Monday morning. 
 
 The address showed up on several traffic tickets issued to Alexandre Bissonnette in recent years. 
 
 Police say the suspect was not on their radar before the attack. A search of court records shows no other involvement with police other than traffic tickets. 
 
 With reports from Verity Stevenson and Sean Gordon in Quebec City, Colin Freeze and Tu Thanh Ha in Toronto and Daniel Leblanc in Ottawa. ||||| Alexandre Bissonnette, the 27-year-old accused of opening fire on a Quebec City mosque, has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder while using a restricted firearm. 
 
 During a brief court appearance Monday evening, Bissonnette, wearing handcuffs, frequently cast his eyes toward the ground and avoided turning toward the packed gallery. 
 
 He will remain in custody until his next court appearance on Feb. 21. 
 
 Provincial police are treating the attack as a terrorist act. RCMP spokeswoman Camille Habel said Bissonnette could later face terrorism-related charges, depending on the outcome of the ongoing investigation. 
 
 Six men were killed and five people remain in hospital with injuries. 
 
 Two of the surviving victims will need more surgery, while the other three are stable and may be discharged soon. Another 13 people with minor injuries have been released, according to a hospital spokeswoman. 
 
 'Introverted young man' 
 
 On Monday afternoon, Laval University confirmed that he is a student, and is now barred from all activities effective immediately until all judicial proceedings are over. 
 
 His employer, Héma-Québec, issued a statement saying the organization is "shocked" to learn that he was among their employees. Bissonnette was a member of their call centre team. 
 
 This screengrab from the suspect's Facebook page, taken before it went offline, shows Alexandre Bissonnette as a child wearing his cadet uniform. (Facebook) "As an organization whose primary mission is dedicated to the gift of life, these events have sent a shock wave through the organization," the non-profit agency said. 
 
 According to Bissonnette's Facebook page, which has since been taken down, Bissonnette is from the Quebec City suburb of Cap-Rouge. He was also a cadet as a child. 
 
 Neighbours of Bissonnette's parents said he was renting an apartment with his twin brother near the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec, where the shooting took place Sunday evening. 
 
 Neighbour Réjean Bussière said Bissonnette was very introverted. 
 
 "He's a very closed-off young man," Bussière told CBC's French-language network, Radio-Canada. 
 
 Only 1 suspected shooter 
 
 Another man, Mohamed Belkhadir, was arrested outside the mosque within minutes of the shooting. He was released after police confirmed he was a witness and not involved in the shooting. 
 
 He said he had been shovelling snow when he heard gunshots — when they stopped he entered the mosque to call 911. 
 
 "I saw the image of someone with a firearm, I didn't know it was police. I thought it was a shooter who'd returned," Belkhadir told Radio-Canada. 
 
 The man fled and police arrested him. He was released Monday. 
 
 Shortly after noon Monday, provincial police said that man was no longer a suspect, but rather a witness to the attack. 
 
 A half-hour after the shooting, Quebec City police Insp. Denis Turcotte said a second man called 911 indicating that he wanted to co-operate in the investigation. 
 
 La SQ confirme qu’un seul des individus arrêté hier soir en lien avec l’<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/attentat?src=hash">#attentat</a> de <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Qu%C3%A9bec?src=hash">#Québec</a> est considéré comme suspect. —@sureteduquebec 
 
 Turcotte said the man parked about five kilometres from the scene of the shooting, near the bridge to Île d'Orléans, and waited for officers to arrest him. 
 
 "He was armed and spoke to us about his acts,'' said Turcotte. 
 
 'Pain and anger' 
 
 As Bissonnette's name began to circulate online, one Facebook group dedicated to welcoming refugees in the Quebec City area expressed "pain and anger" over the news. 
 
 The suspect was "unfortunately known to several activists in Quebec City for his pro-Le Pen and anti-feminist positions at Laval University and on social networks," wrote the Bienvenue aux réfugié.es - Ville de Québec Facebook group. 
 
 Bissonnette's Facebook page seemed to confirm those political leanings. The suspect followed several profiles that espouse right-wing ideologies, including that of Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader of France's National Front. 
 
 A search was conducted at the home of Bissonnette's parents on du Tracel Street in Cap-Rouge, as well as at a residence on des Quatre-Bourgeois Road, closer to the mosque. 
 
 A woman who identified herself as a neighbour of Bissonnette's parents said the suspect had recently moved into an apartment that he was renting with his twin brother, not far from the mosque where the shooting occurred. 
 
 "He is a child," she said. "You couldn't find one more calm than that. He never did anything, he always kept to himself. We never heard of anything." 
 
 "I saw him last Wednesday; he was arriving at his parents' home. I think he often went there," the neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, told Radio-Canada. 
 
 Another neighbour, Réjean Bussiè​re, described Bissonnette as "a young man who is extremely withdrawn." 
 
 Bissonnette and his brother were not the kind to bother others, Bussiè​re said, "but they were not social people." 
 
 On social media, many took issue with the categorization of Bissonnette as an introvert and a lone wolf, arguing that the suspect was spared of the term terrorist because he is white. Bestselling author J.K. Rowling was one of those voices. 
 
 Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attack a "despicable act of terror."
– Authorities in Canada think Sunday night's mosque shooting that left six people dead is a "lone wolf situation," reports Reuters, and they think they've got their shooter: Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, appeared in court Monday and was charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder, reports CBC News. So far, he does not face any terrorism-related charges. Bissonnette attended Laval University, near the Quebec City mosque, and studied political science and anthropology. The AP reports that he was known to espouse "far-right nationalist views" online, and the Toronto Globe and Mail reports that this didn't begin until March when nationalist leader Marine Le Pen visited Quebec City. "I wrote him off as a xenophobe," says a fellow Laval student. "He was enthralled by a borderline racist nationalist movement." A member of a refugee advocacy group says Bissonnette had become a familiar name to those who monitor extremist groups. He was "unfortunately known to many activists in Quebec for taking nationalist, pro-Le Pen and anti-feminist positions at Laval University and on social media," François Deschamps wrote on the Facebook page of the group Welcome to Refugees, per the Montreal Gazette. Five victims of the shooting remained hospitalized as of Monday evening.