The gunman who opened fire at a Montreal hotel on Monday and killed a police officer may have had ties to the misogynistic "incel" movement, though police have not publicly disclosed any information about the attacker’s motive.
The shooter, who was fatally shot by responding officers, released a “manifesto against women” whose contents were in keeping with the highly online subculture’s violent, sexist views, Radio Canada reports.
For the time being, authorities are considering the shooting in the city’s Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood a “domestic case” rather than a terrorism investigation, according to Québec’s Domestic Security Minister Ian Lafrenière.
"It was not considered as a possible terrorism attack, but everything has been put in place to make sure it was not linked to something else," he told reporters on Monday.
A civilian was also killed during the incident, though investigators have not yet determined by whom.
The province’s police watchdog, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes, is reviewing the matter, given the civilian death, officials said.
“Ten BEI investigators have been assigned to investigate the circumstances surrounding the intervention,” the agency wrote in a statement, originally in French.
Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher said a second officer was seriously wounded in the firefight but remains in stable condition. A civilian was also left with minor injuries.
Dagher noted that it was the first time in 24 years that a Montreal police officer had been killed while on duty.
“It’s a very, very sad day,” he told reporters. “It’s a nightmare.”
“My deepest condolences to the family, loved ones, and colleagues of the police officer who died in the line of duty in Côte-des-Neiges,” Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said in a statement on Monday, originally in French. “My thoughts are also with all those affected by this tragedy.”
“My thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones, the first responders, and the entire community of Côte‑des‑Neiges,” Prime Minister Mark Carney added on X. “My gratitude is with our courageous police officers whose heroic dedication protects our communities.”
According to the police chief, emergency services received a call at about 11:35 a.m. reporting that a person was pointing a firearm out of a window at a Hilton hotel.
Police arrived at the scene and were targeted with gunfire, he said. Video showed the shooter was also outside the hotel.
Police are still trying to determine the suspect’s motive.
Jacob Coutu, who was working in construction near the shooting, told The Associated Press he heard “four of five gunshots” on Monday morning. A few minutes later, he said police officers started arriving at the scene in large numbers and he heard more gunfire.
“We saw cops getting in a gunfight, getting shot down,” Coutu said.
He estimates he heard 30 or 40 gunshots.
Public safety officials issued an emergency alert about an armed and dangerous suspect in the area, asking residents to shelter in place. The alert triggered temporary closures along a major highway, the Décarie expressway, as well as a temporary shutdown of significant sections of two subway lines.
Dagher confirmed the suspect was dead before authorities issued the alert. Authorities eventually lifted the alert shortly after 3 p.m.
The shooting occurred in an area with a notable population of Lubavitcher Hasidic Jews, though Dagher told reporters he was unaware if one of the victims of the shooting was Jewish.
“I hope they weren’t targeting Jewish people,” Zalman Erdvin, who was praying at a nearby synagogue during the shooting, told The New York Times. “They told us we were in lockdown and we had to stay inside for three hours.”
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