A Montreal police officer was killed in a shootout on Monday, sparking a significant response from local authorities. For nearly three hours, city residents were instructed to remain indoors as police searched for a suspect.
Initially, authorities confirmed that one gunman was down at the scene. However, they advised residents to stay sheltered as they sought a second suspect. Ultimately, they revealed that there was only one gunman involved. “The immediate threat to the public is no longer present,” said Montreal police chief Fady Dagher. “Shelter-in-place is no longer required.”
The incident unfolded in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, near a high-rise with commercial units on the ground floor, including a grocery store and a restaurant. Chief Dagher explained that officers responded to reports of a firearm pointed from a hotel window. Upon arrival, officers were met with gunfire, resulting in a deadly exchange.
“Today, one of ours has fallen in the line of duty,” Chief Dagher stated during an afternoon news conference. It marked the first such incident in the city in 24 years.
The province of Quebec issued an emergency alert, warning of an armed and dangerous suspect at large shortly after 12:30 p.m. Residents were urged to stay away from windows and lock their doors.
“My deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the police officer who died in the line of duty,” Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Montreal’s mayor, posted on social media.
Mordy Aisenstark, a manager at a nearby pizza restaurant, recounted hearing gunshots around 11:30 a.m. He took swift action, gathering his employees and escaping through the back of the store. Later, he observed the shooter, dressed in camouflage, lying dead with a firearm nearby. Law enforcement soon arrived, and employees were instructed to shelter in place in the restaurant’s bathroom.
Ian Lafrenière, Quebec’s minister of domestic security, told reporters that all available policing resources were being utilized in the investigation. “For now, we don’t really know what the motive of this individual was,” he remarked about the assailant.