Shooting in Montreal Jewish neighbourhood leaves civilian and officer dead, suspect neutralised, police say

JTA – Montreal police said an alleged shooter in a neighbourhood known for its large Jewish population had been killed following a confrontation that resulted in the deaths of one police officer and one civilian. 

A second police officer, who was female, was wounded and is in a “critical state”, according to police. 

When Montreal police chief Fady Dagher was asked at a press conference on Monday afternoon whether he could confirm the identity of the civilian victim and who had shot him, he responded, “I don’t have the information yet.” 

Initially, the Israeli-based Zaka rescue and recovery group identified the victim as a Jewish man and provided his name, but later recanted, reporting that he was wounded but had not passed away. Chabad, which has a centre close to the site of the shooting, also published a notice stating that the man was seriously wounded but not deceased. 

Moshe Blech, an Israeli who has been living in Montreal for the past two years and is a volunteer for Zaka’s North American team, was among the many members of the Jewish community who had to shelter in place on the street where the attack took place. Blech told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) that he was outside his house with his eight-year-old daughter when the shooting started. 

Another resident, Yitzhak Rosenblum, a member of the Chevrah Kadisha volunteer burial society, told JTA that he was working at his office “when I heard a bunch of cops flying by and I heard some gunshots”. 

Dagher told reporters, “It’s a very very sad day. It’s a nightmare, but we have to be solid.” He continued, “We have to be solid for our lady police officer who survived, and we are all behind her.” 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote in a post on X on Monday that he was “horrified to learn that a police officer and a civilian have been killed and others injured in a shooting in Montreal today”. 

“My thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones, the first responders, and the entire community of Côte‑des‑Neiges,” Carney wrote. “My gratitude is with our courageous police officers whose heroic dedication protects our communities.” 

Côte-des-Neiges was the scene of postwar Jewish settlement as families ascending from the working to the middle class moved west from the area of Saint-Laurent Boulevard. The area, with treelined streets studded with duplexes and low-rise apartment buildings, had a friendly neighbourhood ambience and lacked the anti-Jewish restrictions some of the wealthier enclaves maintained at the time. 

There are a number of Jewish schools and synagogues in the area, including the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, the oldest congregation in the country, established in 1768 and which moved to the neighbourhood in 1947. The neighbourhood is now the site of a large Chabad community and a number of Jewish restaurants and delis. 

The area has been targeted by gunfire in recent years, including incidents in 2023 and 2024 where shots were fired at Orthodox schools.