Quebec City Mosque Attacker was White, Non-Muslim

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Alexandre Bissonnette (from his Facebook page) 

This morning I reported that the two suspects in custody in the Quebec City mosque attack had been identified as being of "Arab origin" and "Quebec origin." Soon, reports of "Arab origin" became "Moroccan" or "Moroccan-Canadian" And it was also claimed that the two suspects were students at Laval University - a school with a large Muslim population. A few hours ago two names were leaked - Alexandre Bissonnette and Mohamed Khadir - seemingly confirming the earlier reports.

However, the police just released Khadir, designating him as a mere witness. Bissonnette is now the sole suspect in custody. Apparently, he turned himself in after the attack, fourteen miles from the mosque.

There is no evidence that Bissonnette is Muslim.

Indeed, screenshots have now been posted of his Facebook page, showing that he is a supporter of various "right-wing" causes and politicians - including Donald Trump. And there are reports that he had an active social media presence opposing refugees and feminism.

Update: February 3: There are other reports that he "liked" some left-wing politicians and causes and had "pro-environment" views.

All reports (from an unknown number of original sources) suggested that there were two or three gunmen. But police are now going on the theory that Bissonnette was the lone shooter.

One widely circulated story quoted a witness claim they overheard a gunman shout "Allahu Akbar." It is unclear what we should make of this now. It's possible it was a mistake in the confusion of the attack (as the victims were Muslim, someone may have shouted out something similar). Or it could have been yelled by the attacker as a sort of sick joke, similar to the alleged words of the Munich shooter a few months ago.  

Quebec City Mosque Attackers Shouted "Allahu Akbar" - One Suspect is of "Arab Origin"

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This evening, two or three masked men burst into the mosque of the Islamic Cultural Center in Quebec City, firing automatic weapons. At least six people were killed and eight injured. Two gunmen were quickly captured. The authorities have still not released their names.

Radio Canada earlier reported that a witness inside the Mosque had heard one of the gunmen shout "Allahu Akbar" with a Quebecois accent. Now, TVA nouvelles is reporting that one of the suspects is of "Arab origin" and the other is of "Quebec origin." The latter term is often used loosely.

UPDATE (2:20 PM CST): Montreal-based LaPresse is reporting that one of the suspects is of "Moroccan" origin.

UPDATE (3:20 PM CST): Now it's being reported that the two gunmen are students at Laval University - a school has a large Muslim population and numerous terror ties. One of the suspects in custody is "Moroccan-Canadian." An unconfirmed report claims the other is from Guinea. 

At this point it it very likely that both are Muslims. 

There is speculation that the two men were from a rival breakaway mosque but this has not been confirmed.

When news of the attack broke, social media erupted with tweets and posts blaming Donald Trump, who it was alleged had prompted the attack with his recent "anti-Muslim" travel ban. There were also more general condemnations of "hatred", "intolerance," and "Islamophobia." The Daily Beast even published the names of two "white supremacists" who had allegedly carried out the attack before being forced to retract the story after it turned out they had been hoaxed by a fairly obvious "fake news" satire piece (the "white supremacists" were second-tier right-wing media personalities).

As it began to look more and more probable that the terrorist attack was not the work of Islamophobic Trump supporters but was instead part of an internecine Muslim conflict, some of the accusations that "Trump was responsible" gave way to pleas "not to jump to conclusions." And many began to argue that "it didn't matter who the attackers were." Rather, what mattered was that "the victims were Muslim."