A Montreal police officer was shot and killed Monday in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, marking the first time a local officer has died in the line of duty in nearly a quarter of a century, authorities said. A civilian was also killed, another officer was wounded, and the male suspect was shot and killed by police.
The shooting began around 11:30 a.m. EST in Côte-des-Neiges, the most populated neighborhood in Montreal, which historically has had a large Jewish population. A witness saw a gun sticking out of a window, heard shots, and called police, Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher said at a press conference.
“For now, we don’t really know what the motive of this individual was,” Quebec Domestic Security Minister Ian Lafrenière said.
Becoming emotional at the press conference, Dagher told reporters: “It’s a nightmare.”
The death of the yet-to-be-named officer marks the first time in 24 years that a Montreal police officer was killed in the line of duty, Dagher said. The injured officer was taken to hospital.
Police believe the suspect used a long-range gun, Dagher said. The suspect was shot and killed immediately, he added, and is believed to have acted alone.
Traffic on a nearby busy motorway was brought to a stop, and local metro service was halted. Just after 12:30 p.m. EST, the province of Quebec issued an emergency alert warning residents of an armed suspect on the loose. The alert was lifted just after 3:00 p.m. EST as reporters were hearing from the police chief.
“My deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the police officer who died in the line of duty,” Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said in a social media post.
Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette echoed those sentiments in a social media post, adding that “such acts have no place here.”