Montreal: A gunman opened fire at a downtown Montreal hotel on Monday, killing a police officer and a civilian before police returned fire and killed the suspect, police said, AP reported.
Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher said the attacker, armed with a long gun, began shooting at officers who responded to reports around 11:35 a.m. that someone was pointing a weapon from a window of the Hilton hotel in the Côte‑des‑Neiges neighbourhood. A second officer was seriously wounded but is in stable condition, Dagher said.
Police identified the officer who died as Constable Mohamed Lamine Benredouan, 34, a member of the force since 2021. The chief described the death as the first killing of a Montreal police officer in the line of duty in 24 years and called the incident “a very, very sad day.”
Video shared on social media appears to show the shooter, wearing an olive‑colored jacket and cargo pants, exchanging gunfire with officers both inside and outside the hotel. The footage also seems to show a civilian and at least one officer being struck by gunfire. Investigators have not yet determined who fired the shot that killed the civilian, Dagher said.
Witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots. Jacob Coutu, a construction worker nearby, said he first heard “four or five gunshots” and then many more as officers arrived. “We saw cops getting in a gunfight, getting shot down,” he said.
The shooting prompted an emergency alert telling residents to shelter in place. Authorities temporarily closed parts of the Décarie expressway and shut sections of two metro lines while officers secured the scene.
Quebec’s Minister of Public Security Ian Lafrenière, a former Montreal police officer, said investigators from multiple agencies, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, were consulted and have concluded the incident was not linked to terrorism. He declined to discuss the suspect’s identity or motive because the case is under probe by an independent police watchdog that investigates injuries and deaths involving police.
