3 injured after man with knife enters Montreal-area mosque

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

The incident happened at around 1:40 p.m. at the Centre Culturel Musulman in Châteauguay, an off-island suburb of Montreal.

Châteauguay police got a 911 call reporting that a man had entered the building on Saint Jean Baptiste Boulevard with a knife and then got into an altercation with people who were inside, said police spokesperson Nadia Grondin.

The three men are in their 50s and their injuries are not considered life-threatening. One of them was sent to hospital. 

Police arrested the suspect, a 24-year-old man, who is set to be questioned by investigators.

Police tape surrounds the Centre Culturel Musulman in Chateauguay, Que., after a man entered the building and injured three men on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (CTV News)

 

According to the mosque's administrator, Rachid Amane, the suspect, who appeared to be in his 20s, entered the building and started acting suspiciously.

There were roughly 100 men, women, and youth inside the place of worship at the time when prayers were stopped as several men approached the suspect.

The three men suffered injuries to their hands and one of them was wounded on his body when the armed man resisted them, Amane told CTV News. The man was detained until police arrived on scene.

In a statement on social media, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) said it was "greatly concerned" by the incident.

"We are in touch with the local centre and will provide more information as it becomes available. However, we do not have information at this point to make a suggestion as to the motivation behind the incident, and we encourage our community not to speculate as the investigation continues," the NCCM wrote on X.

Amane said this is not the first time there has been a violent incident at the mosque. Nearly a decade ago, a suspected handmade explosive device was left there but it did not go off.

The administrator said he wasn't aware of any specific threats leading up to the incident on Friday and believes the suspect, who did not say anything threatening, was acting alone.

With files from CTV Montreal's Caroline Van Vlaardingen and The Canadian Press