text: 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. ||||| 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." ||||| QUEBEC CITY/TORONTO (Reuters) - A French-Canadian university student was the sole suspect in a shooting at a Quebec City mosque and was charged with the premeditated murder of six people, Canadian authorities said on Monday, in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called “a terrorist attack.” 
   
   Court documents identified the gunman in the attack on Sunday evening prayers as Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, and charged him with six murder counts and five counts of attempted murder with a restricted weapon. The slightly-built Bissonnette made a brief appearance in court under tight security wearing a white prison garment and looking downcast. 
   
   Prosecutors said all of the evidence was not yet ready and Bissonnette, a student at Université Laval, was set to appear again on Feb. 21. No charge was read in court and Bissonnette did not enter a plea. 
   
   “The charges laid correspond to the evidence available,” said Thomas Jacques, a representative of the prosecutor’s office, when asked why Bissonnette was not charged with terrorism-related offences. 
   
   Among the six men killed were a butcher, a university professor, a pharmacist and an accountant, according to police and Canadian media. 
   
   The government of Guinea said in a statement that two of its citizens were among those killed in the mosque attack. 
   
   Police declined to discuss possible motives for the shooting at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec. 
   
   “They consider this a lone wolf situation,” a Canadian source familiar with the situation said. 
   
   In Washington, U.S. government security experts were leaning to the view that the gunman most likely was motivated by hatred for Muslims, a U.S. government source familiar with official reporting said. 
   
   Trudeau, who has made a point of welcoming refugees and immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, told parliament in Ottawa: “Make no mistake, this was a terrorist attack.” 
   
   “Last night this community experienced something that no community should ever have to know: Unspeakable cruelty and violence perpetrated on those who came together in friendship and in faith,” Trudeau said later at a vigil attended by hundreds who braved frigid temperatures in Quebec City. 
   
   He added a personal message to Canada’s 1 million Muslims: 
   
   “We stand with you. We love you and we support you and we will always defend and protect your right to gather together and pray today and every day,” Trudeau added. 
   
   Alexandre Bissonnette, a suspect in a shooting at a Quebec City mosque, is seen in a Facebook posting. Facebook/Handout via REUTERS 
   
   The attack was out of character for Quebec City, a city of just over 500,000 which reported just two murders in all of 2015. Mass shootings are rare in Canada, where gun control laws are stricter than in the United States. 
   
   Incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Quebec in recent years. The face-covering, or niqab, became an issue in the 2015 Canadian federal election, especially in Quebec, where the majority of the population supported a ban on it at citizenship ceremonies. 
   
   In addition to the six killed, five people were critically injured and 12 were treated for minor injuries, a spokeswoman for the Quebec City University Hospital said. 
   
   Federal Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters in Ottawa there was no change to “the national terrorism threat level” from medium because “there is no information known to the government of Canada that would lead to a change at this time.” 
   
   U.S. President Donald Trump called Trudeau to express his condolences “and offered to provide any assistance as needed,” said Trudeau spokesman Cameron Ahmad. 
   
   Over the weekend, Trudeau said Canada would welcome refugees, his response to an executive order by Trump on Friday to halt the U.S. refugee program and to temporarily bar citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. 
   
   Trump’s action, which the president said was “not about religion - this is about terror and keeping our country safe,” was widely condemned in the United States and abroad as targeting Muslims. 
   
   On Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that the Quebec shooting was “a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant, and why the president is taking steps to be proactive, rather than reactive, when it comes to our nation’s safety and security.” 
   
   FATHER OF FOUR KILLED 
   
   A father of four, the owner of a halal butcher near the mosque, was among those killed, said Pamela Sakinah El-hayet, a friend of one of the people at the mosque. 
   
   The mosque concierge was killed, as was Ahmed Youness, a 21-year-old student, El-hayet told Reuters. One of El-hayet’s friends, Youness’ roommate, was in the mosque at the time of the shooting. He was unharmed, she said, but in total shock. 
   
   A man of Moroccan descent who had also been arrested was now considered a witness, although his nationality was not immediately known, a Canadian source familiar with the situation said. 
   
   Ali Assafiri, a student at Université Laval, said he had been running late for the evening prayers at the mosque, near the university in the Quebec City area. When he arrived, the mosque had been transformed by police into a crime scene. 
   
   Slideshow (16 Images) 
   
   “Everyone was in shock,” Assafiri said by phone. “It was chaos.” 
   
   Vigils were planned for Montreal and Quebec City, the provincial capital, as well as in Edmonton. There was an outpouring of support for the mosque on social media.
target: – 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.