[2] Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the shooting a terrorist attack,[10][11] but Bissonnette was not charged with terrorism provision of the Criminal Code.

Subsequent governments have sought to place restrictions on religious items of clothing such as Muslim head scarves and Jewish skull caps through legislation such as the Charter of Quebec Values.

[17] A competitive media market of local right-wing radio talkshow hosts features regular attacks on Islam and Muslims as being incompatible with the values of Quebec society.

[16] Two weeks before the shooting, the mosque had finalized plans to install a fortified main entrance and a back escape exit for Ramadan in June.

The shooter, 27-year-old Alexandre Bissonnette, killed six people and injured five while firing five 10-round magazines from a 9 mm Glock semi-automatic pistol.

Detailed facts of the attack using witness testimony and six security camera recordings were made public in April 2018 by the prosecution during the perpetrator's sentencing hearing and put to rest conspiracy theories that a second shooter was involved.

Superior Court judge François Huot prohibited publication of the video footage, but allowed the press to publish descriptions.

In this month he obsessively visited the Twitter accounts of several right wing media personalities including Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, David Duke, Alex Jones, Mike Cernovich, Richard B. Spencer and Kellyanne Conway.

On the day of the shooting, he had breakfast while reading web content dealing with jihadi attacks, mass murder, and suicide.

When he learned from television that the Canadian government would begin to welcome refugee claimants fearing Trump administration immigration policies and arriving at the U.S. border, he decided to proceed with the long-planned shooting.

[25][4] At 7:37 p.m., he hesitated to follow through with the shooting and drove to a nearby convenience store to buy and quickly drink a Vodka Ice.

The Barry brothers quickly got up to flee, but Bissonnette opened fire, hitting Ibrahima in the left arm, back, and abdomen, causing him to collapse.

[30] At 7:56, the shooter finally exited the main entrance and fled the scene in his father's car, leaving his semi-automatic rifle and guitar case behind.

[4][24] Seconds later, Mohamed Belkadhir, a University of Laval engineering student who had left the meeting to shovel snow, arrived at the mosque entrance and called 911 when he found the Barry brothers.

[35] He checked inside the mosque, then returned to tend the first two victims, removing his coat to cover Mamadou, who still showed signs of life.

[44][45] Eyewitness and video surveillance indicate that Soufiane was fatally shot after rushing and grappling with the shooter, saving several lives.

[47] Alexandre George-Henri Bissonnette (born December 1, 1989), a student at Université Laval and former Canadian Army cadet,[48] was identified as the suspect.

Neighbours said his father and mother were both present in his life and were model parents, adding that they had never had a problem with either him or his twin brother Mathieu.

[58][59] Bissonnette checked in on the Twitter account of Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief of the conservative news site the Daily Wire, 93 times in the month leading up to the shooting.

[63][64] He later told police that he was motivated by the 2014 shootings at Parliament Hill, Ottawa, where a Canadian soldier guarding the National War Memorial was killed.

[69][70] Bissonnette told police officers he was motivated by Justin Trudeau's response to Donald Trump's travel ban, and that he was convinced that refugees were a threat to his family.

[19][80] According to one early report, a man who presented himself as a witness said two attackers dressed in black and with Québécois accents entered the mosque and shouted "Allahu Akbar" before shooting.

[86] Philippe Pichet, the chief of Montreal police, and Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, the mayor of Gatineau, both announced their cities would increase security around local mosques.

[87] Martin Coiteux, the provincial public security minister, said religious buildings in the province would be protectively surveilled, those in the capital by the Quebec City police.

[80] On January 30, public vigils and gatherings were held across Canada to show sympathy to the victims of the shooting, their families and their community.

[88] The largest assembly, held in Quebec City, was attended by the prime minister and his wife, and leaders of all official federal parties.

[90] The government of Quebec also set up a register of condolences where citizens can send testimonies to the victims of the attack and the families of the dead.

[93] The suspect in the Christchurch mosque shootings, Brenton Tarrant, covered the weapons used in the attacks with various white-supremacist and anti-Muslim symbols and references.

[80] Labeaume and Couillard, along with Martin Coiteux, the provincial Minister of Public Safety, held a joint press conference and called for unity.

[101] Andrew Scheer also stated the "shooting was an act of terror", and that: "Last year's attack was a hate crime that took six innocent lives.