Canadian Prime Minister's office asks Fox News to retract 'misleading' tweet about Quebec mosque shooting

The office of Canada's Prime Minister has formally requested that Fox News retract or update what it called a "false and misleading" tweet about the nationality of the suspect in the deadly Quebec mosque shooting that left six dead on Sunday.

Fox News' tweet said the suspect was "of Moroccan origin," information that was later proved false by authorities but not corrected by the outlet on Twitter.

"Sadly, this misleading information has been left to stand on the Fox News Channel's twitter account and continued to circulate online even now," Kate Purchase, communications director for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, wrote in an email to Fox News.

"These tweets by Fox News dishonour the memory of the six victims and their families by spreading misinformation, playing identity politics, and perpetuating fear and division within our communities," she added.

The email requested that Fox News either retract or update their tweet "to reflect the suspect's actual identity."

Initially, two suspects were named by Quebec police: Alexandre Bissonnette and Mohamed Khadir. Authorities later clarified that Khadir, also identified in some reports as Mohammed Belhkadir, was a witness to the attack who had called 911 - not a suspect charged in the attack.

But in its subsequent tweets, Fox News did not clarify the identity of the real suspect, Bissonnette, who is a white French-Canadian male.

Bissonnette, a 27-year-old university student, has since been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder while using a restricted firearm.

Before the shooting, which Canadian authorities have referred to a terrorist attack, Bissonnette had expressed extremist, nationalist, and anti-Muslim views both online and to his friends, the Globe and Mail reported.

A spokesperson for Fox News did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

View the full email to Fox News below: