San diego: A series of deadly attacks targeting Muslims in North America and Europe over the past decade has heightened fears over rising Islamophobia and anti-Muslim violence. Three people, including a security guard, were fatally shot at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday. Law enforcement officials said that two suspects died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
According to Anadolu Agency, in a tragic incident in Ontario, Canada, in 2021, four members of a Muslim family were killed and a child seriously injured after a man drove a pickup truck into them during an evening walk. Nathaniel Veltman was convicted in 2023 of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, with prosecutors describing the attack as an act of terrorism motivated by white nationalist ideology.
In Norway, a heavily armed gunman attacked the Al-Noor Islamic Centre near Oslo in August 2019. One worshipper managed to subdue the attacker before mass casualties could occur. The suspect, Philip Manshaus, was convicted in 2020 of terrorism and murder after also killing his adopted sister in a separate racially motivated attack. Investigators revealed that Manshaus had embraced far-right extremist ideology and was inspired by the Christchurch mosque shootings earlier that year.
The Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand in March 2019 saw a white supremacist gunman attacking two mosques during Friday prayers, killing 51 people. The attacker, Brenton Tarrant, pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder, and terrorism charges in 2020 and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, marking the first such sentence in New Zealand's history.
In the UK, a van was driven into worshippers near a Finsbury Park mosque in north London in June 2017, killing one man and injuring several others. Darren Osborne, the perpetrator, was convicted of murder and attempted murder in 2018 and sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 43 years.
In Canada, a gunman opened fire during evening prayers at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City in January 2017, killing six worshippers and injuring more than a dozen others. Alexandre Bissonnette pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder. Canada's Supreme Court later ruled he would be eligible for parole after 25 years.
In the US, Imam Maulama Akonjee and his assistant Thara Uddin were shot dead near their mosque in Queens, New York, in August 2016. Oscar Morel was convicted in 2018 of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The Chapel Hill shooting in the US in 2015 saw three Muslim university students - Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha - killed in their apartment. The suspect, Craig Stephen Hicks, pleaded guilty in 2019 to three counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. While Hicks claimed a parking dispute provoked him, victims' families and prosecutors argued that he was motivated by bigotry.