Two men have been charged with attempted murder in the Canadian city of Calgary after a nightclub shooting early Sunday morning. Mohamed Elmi, 31, and Mohamed Salad, 29, also face a host of other charges, including unauthorised possession of a firearm, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm with an altered or defaced serial number.
A 38-year-old man was sent to hospital immediately after the attack with serious soft tissue injuries to his torso. Video below shows the moments leading up to the shooting as well as the consequences.
According to the Calgary Herald, officials believe many more patrons could have been hurt if the nightclub’s bouncers hadn’t immediately intervened.
“I don’t have the information for how many shots that firearm was capable of at that time, but we certainly can say their actions stopped what could have been several other injuries,” Staff Sgt. Brad Glaicar told the newspaper.
A nightclub employee who witnessed the shooting around 1:30 a.m. Sunday at Ten X Night Club, at 1140 10th Avenue S.W., agreed.
“There’s no doubt in my mind these two guys did save lives. Had they not been there it would have been a lot worse,” Spencer Wallace said of his fellow bouncers.
Canadian media has been careful not to make any link between the suspects named and their religion. The word ‘jihad’ is conspicuously absent in media coverage, something that is irritating social media users who are openly speculating whether or not they have been banned from making any connection with radical Islam.
Mohamed Elmi & Mohamed Salad Arrested In Calgary Club Jihad-Attack? https://t.co/m2JZzomaWH Video Of Attack https://t.co/hHaS7tYPXs #MyJihad
— Anti-CAIR (@AntiCAIR) January 11, 2016
Mainstream news trying to bury this. Shooting at Calgary nightclub by two men with first name Mohamed. https://t.co/bZt50QfgOI #rapefugees
— Captain Canuck (@captncanuck777) January 11, 2016
@joe_warmington any reason the media isn’t covering the coordinated shooting of a Calgary nightclub by Muslims Joe? pic.twitter.com/n6AIYruGzy
— Politics In Memes (@politicsinmemes) January 11, 2016
Newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it a campaign promise in 2015 to welcome as many as 50,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016. His government is yet to outline how much this will cost, whether processing times for other immigrants will get longer and what their overall immigration plan is for 2016.
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