Gunman targets Australian mosque, police say ‘it could just be someone shooting at birds’

Police are hunting a gunman who fired up to three bullets into a Perth mosque, but detectives have played down suggestions the incident may be racially motivated.

Today, police revealed that the Canning Mosque in Queens Park had been peppered with three shots in the early hours of last Thursday morning, damaging the main roof dome. Officers were called to the mosque, at the corner of Welshpool and Treasure roads, at 12.55am after reports of gunshots being heard. No one was at the mosque at the time of the shooting.

“At this stage, it does not appear to be racially motivated, however police are keeping an open mind,” Detective First Class Constable Steve Flanagan said. “We have no indication to say that it is racially motivated. We are not sure how it happened at this stage. It could just be someone shooting at birds.”

Perth Now, 10 February 2010