Witness statements and reports which conflict with the Canadian government’s account of what occurred during the tragic January 29th, 2017 Quebec terror attack at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City raise questions about what actually happened the night of the tragedy. The evidence indicates that contrary to the official narrative, there was more than one gunman and multiple weapons were captured in the possession of arrestees. Media outlets also were so eager to claim the incident was caused by white supremacists that they were fooled into reporting false information from parody news accounts on twitter.

I. Multiple Media Sources Cited Witness Statements Claiming There Were Multiple Gunmen, Number Of Weapons Seized Inconsistent With "Lone Wolf" Narrative

The Canadian government’s claims that the Quebec shooting was a "lone wolf" incident is not consistent with multiple media reports and witness statements that there were at least two gunmen participating in the incident. Canadian news source Le Soleil reported that “at least one gunman” participated in the attack. A witness told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that they saw two masked gunmen enter the building, shout the Takbir (Islamic phrase “Allahu akbar” which means “God is great” in Arabic) and open fire on worshippers. The Sun also ran a statement from a 22 year old student named Abdi, who was reading the Koran with his friends at the time of the attack. Abdi similarly said he was convinced he had seen two attackers and that they shouted the Takbir before opening fire. Reuters also ran an additional report citing another witness statement which said that three attackers had taken part in the incident.

Additionally, the number of weapons reported as having been captured indicates that there was likely more than one attacker. Daily Mail mentioned that weapons captured included an AK-47 assault rifle and two other rifles of unidentified make. The Telegraph also listed two rifles and a handgun as having been confiscated. Both accounts indicate that the number of arms captured are more than could be used by one attacker. Additionally, the multitude of weapons are strange when considered in the context of witness statements which specifically mention that the attackers reloaded several times. This would have been unnecessary in a situation where a lone gunman was using multiple weapons.

The witness statements which established that two or more attackers participated in the Quebec mosque shooting and the accounts about the large number of weapons captured are not consistent with the Canadian government’s position that the attack was perpetrated by one single attacker.

II. The Canadian Government Censored News Outlets Amid Confusion Over Second Suspect’s Identity

There was immediate confusion online over the true identities of the attackers. An unverified post to Reddit claimed that citizens listening to police scanners picked up chatter indicating that two of the suspects were Syrian refugees who had entered the country last week. That report was not corroborated by any official news sources. Fox News also ran a report stating that one of the suspects arrested was of Moroccan origin. The Moroccan suspect was confirmed by the Toronto Metro as being a local university student by the name of Mohamed el-Khadir.

In the aftermath of the report by Fox, Justin Trudeau's office personally intervened and pressured Fox News to retract their statement about the ethnicity of the Mohamed el-Khadir. While official denials of false information by government offices are standard, it is not common to actively intervene and raises questions about the motives behind Trudeau’s desire to limit public access to this information. The Canadian authorities now insist that el-Khadir was a witness and not a suspect. Information that the shooters were Islamic would have been a major embarrassment to Trudeau, who had only days before stated on Twitter that Canada would accept immigrants fleeing "persecution, terror & war."

III. Media Outlets Published False Information Indicating The Attackers Were White Supremacists

Media outlets were so eager to paint the incident as a terror attack by white supremacists that troll accounts on Twitter were able to fool them into running false information. The Daily Beast ran a story stating that two “white supremacists” named David M. J. Aurine and Mathieu Fornier had been arrested in connection with the attack. That information was immediately revealed to be false, and had come from a blatantly obvious Reuters parody account on Twitter. The Daily Best retracted the information and issued an apology.

Other news organizations were quick to note that the mosque had been the victim of an apparent hate incident where a pig’s head was left outside the door of the facility. No attention was given to the apparent efforts of the Canadian government to contradict the testimony of witnesses or push a “lone wolf” explanation for the incident.

IV. Canada's Government And Press Have Historically Minimized Islamic Terror Involvement In Crime

Canada has a history of covering up and minimizing criminal incidents where the identity of the suspects would be likely to generate resistance among Canadians to government initiatives and policies. On January 8th, 2016, two Islamic males were arrested for shooting up the Ten X nightclub in Calgary. The Canadian Broadcasting Company speculated that the shooting may have been connected to an earlier incident in the city where another man was injured in a drive by shooting. As is common in criminal cases, the victim refused to cooperate with authorities investigating the crime. Shockingly, the charges against the driver in the incident were stayed despite his involvement as an accessory to the crime.

In July 2016, Le Journal De Québec reported that a letter was distributed around the city warning that the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City was in league with the Muslim Brotherhood and was guilty of “crimes against humanity.” The letter was dismissed as “Islamaphobic” by the press despite an absolute lack of evidence about who had authored it. The authors were more than likely not white supremacists, as the letter denounced supposed links which the Muslim Brotherhood had to Adolf Hitler.

Incidents such as these demonstrate a clear lack of interest by the Canadian government and press in acknowledging or investigating potential involvement of Islamic terrorism in organized crime. In January 2017, Disobedient Media reported on studies indicating that ISIS is using its involvement with international crime syndicates to move operatives and command figures from battlefields in the Middle East to the Western Hemisphere. The insistence of the Canadian government that the Quebec mosque shooting was perpetuated by a "lone wolf" stands in opposition to statements made by eyewitnesses at the event and information about the number of weapons confiscated by police after the tragedy. It also raises broader questions about Justin Trudeau's determination to prioritize the safety of the Canadian people.

This article was originally posted to www.disobedientmedia.com