Montreal police said Monday that a midday shooting in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood left a police officer, a civilian, and the armed suspect dead, in what officials described as the first line-of-duty killing of a Montreal officer in nearly 25 years.
Police Chief Fady Dagher, becoming emotional during a press conference, called the incident “a nightmare.” The department later identified the slain officer as Mohamed Lamine Benredouane, 34, who had been part of the force since 2021. The department said it would fly flags at half-staff in his honor and that Benredouane would be remembered for his “hard work, professionalism and dedication to his job.”
The civilian killed was named by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs as Michael Moshe Mizrahi, described in a social media post as a member of Montreal’s Jewish community and an innocent victim of the day’s events. Police have not said the attack was antisemitic.
A second officer was severely injured and was in stable condition, according to police.
The attack began shortly after 11:30 a.m. EDT in Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal’s most populated neighborhood. Investigators said a witness saw a “gun sticking out of a window,” heard shots, and called police. Traffic on a nearby busy motorway was halted, and local metro service was suspended. At about 12:30 p.m., the province of Quebec issued an emergency alert warning residents of an armed suspect on the loose; the alert was lifted around 3:00 p.m.
Local resident Danny Wilk told AFP that he heard shots while near his home. “I tried to take shelter in the nearby pizzeria, and that’s when I saw the shooter, who looked ready to fire his weapon, dressed in military clothing,” Wilk said. He said he saw an officer on the ground after being shot, and then the attacker was shot by police.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police sent an alert to other police forces in Canada after the attack, the Globe and Mail reported. The newspaper said the bulletin warned about a document that had been circulating which allegedly encouraged citizens to shoot police officers. The BBC said it had not confirmed the existence of such a document. The RCMP did not respond to a request for comment. Montreal police referred questions on the matter to the Bureau of Independent Investigations, which declined to comment.
French-language public broadcaster Radio Canada reported that the gunman drew inspiration from the misogynistic “incel” movement — mostly online groups of young men who blame their lack of sexual activity on women. One of Canada’s most deadly mass killings, a 2018 vehicle-ramming in Toronto that killed 10, was connected to incel ideology.
Quebec Security Minister Ian Lafrenière said earlier: “For now, we don’t really know what the motive of this individual was.”
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “horrified” when he learned of the attack. “My thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones, the first responders, and the entire community of Côte‑des‑Neiges,” he wrote on social media.
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada posted: “My deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the police officer who died in the line of duty.” Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette echoed those sentiments, adding that “such acts have no place here.”