Video: Man attacks worshippers inside Mississauga mosque with bear spray

(Content warning: Video in story contains graphic footage of attack inside mosque)

Video of a 2022 terror attack on worshippers inside a Mississauga mosque is making the rounds this week on social media as the man responsible for the violent incident prepares to be sentenced in court later today (July 25).

Mohammad Moiz Omar, 25, pleaded guilty last week in Ontario Superior Court in Brampton to three criminal offences in connection with the March 19, 2022 attack inside the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre on McAdam Rd., near Matheson Blvd. E. and Kennedy Rd. S.

Under Canada’s Criminal Code, the offences he pleaded guilty to also constitute terrorist activity.

In the video (see below), posted by the mosque’s Imam, Ibrahim Hindy, to his Twitter page on Monday evening, two dozen or so worshippers are seen praying inside the mosque early on a Saturday morning when a man enters from the rear and begins attacking the group with bear spray.

The attacker is also armed with a hatchet.

“This is the moment the attacker came into (the mosque) hoping to hurt worshippers who had their backs turned to him,” Hindy wrote in a brief preface to the posted video. “He came with a bag filled with sharp objects, ropes and zip ties. In retrospect, had he swung his hatchet before discharging the bear spray, he could have certainly killed someone before everyone could react.”

As the one-and-a-half-minute video continues, a number of the congregants quickly turn and set upon the attacker and subdue him until Peel Regional Police arrived.

Trigger Warning: This is the moment the attacker came into Masjid Dar Al-Tawheed hoping to hurt worshippers who had their backs turned to him.

He came with a bag filled with sharp objects, ropes and zip ties. In retrospect, had he swung his hatchet before discharigng the bear… pic.twitter.com/oKQaWpLTAO

— Ibrahim Hindy (@Hindy500) July 25, 2023

Meanwhile, officials with Canada’s largest Muslim advocacy group are calling for a harsh prison sentence and action from all levels of government to ensure such terror attacks never happens again.

Members of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) said in a news release late last week that the mosque attack left them “beyond horrified.”

“This individual deserves to see a significant custodial sentence. Just as importantly, we need to see action from all levels of government taken so that we ensure that this kind of violence never happens again,” the NCCM said.

The Ottawa-based advocacy group added the fallout from the attack is still being felt.

Video still shows the attacker using bear spray on congregants as they quickly close in on him to subdue him for police.

“There were children, young people and elders in the congregation, some of whom continue to bear significant physical and mental trauma from the attack,” the group said in its release. “Had it not been for the brave actions of the congregants who subdued the attacker, there could have been much more serious injury.”

According to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), which prosecutes federal offences, Omar pleaded guilty last week to:

• administering a noxious thing (bear spray) with intent to endanger life or cause bodily harm
• assault with a weapon (hatchet)
• mischief to religious property with the motivation of bias, prejudice or hate based on religion

In an agreed statement of facts filed in court, Omar admitted that he entered the mosque early on the Saturday morning armed with a hatchet and bear spray and intended to kill those inside in what would be the culmination of an attack he had planned for about a year.

Court heard Omar was motivated by a hateful ideology, and the attack was aimed at intimidating a segment of the public, namely Muslim Canadians.

Additionally in the statement of facts, it was revealed that Omar had thought “of other ways to commit his attack” and that he had made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a gun prior to March 19, 2022.

He also made statements to police after his arrest “expressing his hatred for Muslims and his disappointment at having failed to inflict any real harm on the victims,” a PPSC news release issued on July 19 reads.

A number of the worshippers were hailed as heroes after they tackled and subdued the armed attacker and held him for police.