Timeline of recent events in the 2017 mosque shooting in Quebec City

QUEBEC — The sentencing arguments for Quebec City mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette ended Thursday.

Bissonnette, 28, pleaded guilty in March to six charges of first-degree murder and six of attempted murder related to the shooting in January 2017.

While the first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years, Bissonnette can also receive consecutive sentences, which means he could spend up to 150 years in prison.

Here is a timeline of recent developments in the case:

April 11, 2018 — The judge rules video footage from the night of the shooting will not be made public, saying releasing it would undermine the administration of justice and would not be in the public interest. He does allow media, however, to describe the content of the videos.

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April 11 — Footage captured by surveillance cameras is shown as sentencing arguments begin. It shows Bissonnette calmly murdering men lying on the carpet who were already injured by his bullets. The carnage lasts all of two minutes and Bissonnette can be seen hiding several times behind a column in the prayer room to recharge his weapon before returning to empty his gun into the bodies of worshippers.

April 12 — A recording of Bissonnette’s call to 911 after the shooting is played in court. He tells the operator several times he is going to shoot himself. The Crown also presents police photos taken the night of the killings, including images of a semi-automatic weapon lying in the snow, shoes strewn all over the place and walls damaged by bullets.

April 13 — A video of Bissonnette’s police interrogation a day after the massacre shows him telling investigators he went to the mosque because he wanted to protect his family from terrorist attacks. Bissonnette tells police how terrorists had killed scores of people throughout Europe and that he “lost it” after learning Canada was preparing to take in more refugees.

April 16 — A report by a social worker who met with Bissonnette several months after the killings states he told her he wished there had been more victims. It also says he had idolized serial killers since his adolescence and “wanted glory.” Also, Aymen Derbali, who lost the use of his legs in the shooting, takes the stand and describes being shot, crawling toward Bissonnette and being pumped with more bullets.

April 17 — The widow of one victim testifies that if Bissonnette gets anything other than an exemplary sentence or is freed one day, it would be like a second death for victims and their families. Louiza Mohamed-Said, whose husband Abdelkrim Hassane was killed, recounts the nightmare of going to the hospital and begging a doctor to save her husband —to take one of her kidneys if needed — only to be told it was too late. She also describes struggling to find the words to tell the couple’s three young daughters about their father’s death. 

April 18 — Safia Hamoudi, whose husband Khaled Belkacemi died in the murderous rampage, recalls desperately calling Quebec City hospitals in the hours following the shooting in the hope he was still alive. She says in a victim impact statement, “I have lost all my joy in life.” Her son, Amir Belkacemi, calls Bissonnette “a monster.”

April 19 — The 14-year-old daughter of a man considered a hero after he died trying to stop Bissonnette gives moving testimony about how much she misses her father. In between tears, the teenager speaks on behalf of herself and her family and about how Azzedine Soufiane’s death has left a giant void in their lives. “I miss my father terribly,” she says. “He was everything to me.”

April 23 — The defence begins its case in order to obtain the shortest possible sentence for their client. A psychologist who evaluated Bissonnette testifies the killer had been suffering with mental illness for years and wanted to kill. Marc-Andre Lamontagne says Bissonnette initially wanted to shoot people in a shopping centre but decided against that attack and turned his attention to the mosque.

April 24 — A forensic psychiatrist says Bissonnette was hoping for a defence of not criminally responsible when he faked having psychotic symptoms such as hearing voices. Sylvain Faucher says he was also looking for a way of making his act more acceptable in the eyes of his parents. Faucher, who met with Bissonnette at the defence’s request in 2017, says he concluded a defence of not criminally responsible wouldn’t be possible because Bissonnette understood his acts and was capable of knowing if they were good or bad.

April 25 — The Crown says another prisoner told Quebec provincial police in February 2018 that Bissonnette became enraged when he saw a TV report about a campaign to raise funds to buy Derbali a wheelchair-accessible home. Bissonnette also told his fellow inmate he couldn’t believe Derbali survived after having had seven bullets pumped into him. The judge says he would not take into account the exchange when he decides on a sentence for Bissonnette. The prisoner’s comments constituted hearsay as he did not testify at the trial.

April 26 — Sentencing arguments end with a forensic psychiatrist testifying on behalf of the Crown and saying the shooting was a racist act but not terrorism. Gilles Chamberland says Bissonnette didn’t promote any type of ideology in carrying out actions that saw him kill the six men.

The Canadian Press