The tranquility of a residential neighborhood in the Canadian city of Montreal – home to diverse communities, including areas with deep Jewish roots — was shattered Monday morning after a gunman opened fire, prompting a shootout with police that killed at least two people, sent families running for cover and paralyzed the city for hours.
The brazen daylight shooting, which law enforcement sources believe was a targeted attack on police, marks the first time a Montreal officer has been killed in the line of duty in two decades.
The rash of gunshots shocked residents of the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, who remained under an hourslong order to take shelter and lock their doors as authorities investigated an “armed and dangerous suspect.” The suspect was later confirmed to have been killed.
The borough is diverse, with pockets defined deeply by Jewish culture, institutions and daily life.
More than two dozen gunshots can be heard in one video of the incident posted to social media and verified by CNN.
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Police are examining a so-called manifesto that runs over 100 pages they believe may have been written by the gunman. It reportedly espouses incel ideology, according to law enforcement sources. Incel is short for “involuntary celibate”, and its misogynistic ideology has been tied to several violent attacks in recent years.
The Montreal Police Service identified the fallen officer as Mohamed Lamine Benredouane, 34, who had been a police officer with the department since 2021. It’s the first fatal shooting of an officer in the city in 24 years, Quebec Domestic Security Minister Ian Lafrenière said.
The other victim was identified as Michel Mizrahi, an Israeli citizen, according to the Israeli Consulate in Montreal. Mizrahi was a beloved member of Montreal’s Jewish community, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said.
Authorities have not yet identified the gunman, who police believe acted alone.
A second officer was transported to the hospital in critical condition, but she is now stable, Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher said at a news conference. One civilian sustained minor injuries, he said.
“It appeared to be an ambush,” a Canadian law enforcement source said.
Residents run for cover as shots rang out
Less than five miles from the skyscrapers and frenzied metropolis of downtown Montreal, Côte-des-Neiges is a quieter, modern residential bubble.
Brandon Benchimel-Elkaim, a resident of a nearby condo building, said he saw panicked families at a local playground run for cover after he heard the first round of gunshots ring out around 11:15 a.m. ET, CNN newsgathering partner CBC News reported.
“I saw parents ripping their kids off of the play structure. They were running for their life,” he said.
Benchimel-Elkaim said a second round of shooting came shortly after, followed by a large police presence, CBC reported.
Police were responding to a 911 call of gunshots and a gun sticking out of a window around 11:35 a.m. on Décarie Boulevard when officers came under fire in the street, Dagher, the police chief said.
A squad of law enforcement officers staged at the entrance of a building before one officer kicked through the glass door, making room for the group to get inside. Several other officers, armed with rifles and a K9 unit, followed close behind.
A long gun used by the suspect was seized at the scene, Dagher said.
Heidi Doctor was taking a work call after dropping off her child for a haircut when an officer pulled up in front of her and pulled out their gun, she told CTV News, a CNN newsgathering partner.
“All of a sudden cops come swarming,” Doctor said. Her other child had arrived to the hair salon just minutes before the mayhem began.
Doctor tried to stay in her parking spot, but she eventually had to get out of the way and pull onto a nearby side street, she told CTV. She waited for hours, communicating with her kids by phone, as they hid in the back of the salon.
Graphic videos of the violence, which occurred next to pedestrians and busy lanes of traffic, quickly began circulating online, as social media users began to speculate about what happened.
Lafrenière, the Domestic Security minister, asked people not to circulate graphic videos of the fatal shooting. He noted he has seen videos showing what appears to be a police officer shooting a civilian, noting the incident is being investigated by Quebec’s police watchdog.
Incel ideology tied to past attacks
Incel ideology has been linked to other mass killings in Canada, including the 2018 Toronto van attack, when a perpetrator who identified as an incel drove down a crowded sidewalk and deliberately killed 10 people.
In 2020, a teenage boy stabbed two female employees at a massage parlor, killing one, in what was later classified by a judge as an act of terrorism — the first incel-motivated crime to be designated a terror offense in Canada.
Montreal was also the site of the worst school shooting in Canada’s history — known as the Montreal massacre — which occurred on December 6, 1989, when in a misogyny-fueled rampage, a gunman murdered 14 women at École Polytechnique while screaming “You are all feminists.”
Deadly gun violence is a far less common occurrence in Canada than in the US, according to statistics.
In 2023, 38% of homicides in Canada involved a firearm, while 76% of homicides in the US were firearm-related, according to an analysis by Canada’s national statistics body using police-reported data from the Uniform Crime Reporting programs in both countries.
Gun ownership in Canada is also far less common than in the US. According to the Small Arms Research project, there are 121 firearms for every 100 residents in the US compared to an estimated 35 guns per 100 residents in Canada.
Responding to Monday’s attack, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “horrified to learn that a police officer and a civilian have been killed and others injured in a shooting in Montréal today.”
“My thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones, the first responders, and the entire community of Côte‑des‑Neiges,” Carney said in a post to X. “My gratitude is with our courageous police officers whose heroic dedication protects our communities.”
Premier of Quebec Christine Fréchette said she’s asked the president of the National Assembly to lower the Quebec flag to half-staff.
“I would like to thank the police officers, first responders, emergency personnel, and all those working on the ground,” Fréchette said. “In the face of this ordeal, we will remain united, supportive, and determined to stand by all those affected.”
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