Mosques in Connecticut are on high alert following the attack in Quebec City on Sunday night after a gunman killed six people and injured several others at a mosque during evening prayers.
"These acts are against human life and the sanctity and sacredness of life so it was very troubling," said Zahir Mannan, with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at the Baitul Aman Mosque (House of Peace) in Meriden.
Mannan said worshippers have turned to prayer after the incident. They want to reach out to others in hope of preventing hate crimes from happening.
“It’s through togetherness and love and tenderness honor and fighting for what is right in the best way possible which is through dignified dialogue and respect. And we’re hoping that changes people’s hearts,” said Mannan.
The Meriden mosque knows violence first hand. In November of 2015, a man fired gunshots through the mosque’s walls hours after the terror attacks in Paris.
No one was hurt in that incident, but the mosque plans to have extra security on hand during events.
“Whether its womens meetings, youth meetings or mens meetings or general collective meetings we want to have security at each of those,” said Mannan.
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Another mosque in Berlin, the Islamic Association of Greater Hartford, has already added an additional 15 surveillance cameras to their property in the last few weeks, bringing the total to about 25 cameras.
They are also discussing the possibility of hiring more security.
