During the course of the London Bridge terror attack in Britain, a masked woman allegedly attacked a Toronto tire shop with a knife and golf club, screaming “Allahu akbar!” and threatening both employees and patrons.
The Toronto Sun identifies the suspect as 32-year-old Rehab Dughmosh of Scarborough. Shortly after 5:00 P.M. on Saturday, she entered the Canadian Tire store at Cedarbrae Mall in Scarborough, proceeded to the paint section, and began swinging a golf club at staff and shoppers.
The woman was heard screaming, “Allahu akbar,” which the Toronto Sun translates with accuracy as “God (Allah) is greater.” She also shouted “threats and Islamic chants” and pulled a knife during her outburst.
One person suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the confrontation, which ended with employees and customers disarming Dughmosh and restraining her until the police arrived.
According to CP24 News, the woman was initially shopping at the tire store and filling a shopping cart with tools when an employee confronted her with suspicions of shoplifting. At that point, she produced a knife and “expressed support for the Islamic State.” The presence of her golf club goes tantalizingly unexplained in this account.
Global News reports Dughmosh was wearing “a niqab and a bandana adorned with what appeared to be a symbol for the so-called Islamic State group” during the incident.
The charges leveled against Dughmosh are serious, including “assault with a weapon, assault, threatening death, possession of a weapon for committing an offence and carrying a concealed weapon,” per CP24.
“Dughmosh was remanded in custody and will appear via video at Scarborough Court of Justice on June 21. She wore a black niqab and forest-green prison sweatsuit at her brief appearance and spoke through an Arabic interpreter in court,” the Toronto Sun adds. She declined a bail hearing and opted to remain in jail until her next court appearance.
Her first court appearance did not do her any favors. “I am pledged to the leader of the believers, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” she announced before the judge could say a word, according to CBC. Baghdadi is the “caliph” or leader of the Islamic State.
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