Montreal shooting: «We do not know what the suspect’s motive was»

Montreal police have announced that an officer has been killed and another injured after an active shooter opened fire in the city's Côte-des-Neiges district on June 22.

The SPVM has announced the shooter has been killed, and another officer present has been injured. According to media reports and the SPVM, the shooting began shortly before noon near the Marché PA, Westbury location. The shooter then moved down the street to the Westbury Projects, a condominium complex near Station Namur.

The officer and the gunman were both killed alongside one civilian. Another SVPM officer was injured, and according to Police Chief Fady Dagher confirmed that one more civilian was lightly injured. The shooter prompted authorities to issue an emergency shelter-in-place alert, and the incident has created one of the largest police responses the city has seen in recent years.

Witnesses reported hearing gunfire and seeing large numbers of police vehicles rushing into the neighbourhood. Authorities subsequently issued an emergency alert warning residents that an armed and dangerous suspect remained at large. The alert instructed anyone within the affected area to shelter indoors, lock doors, stay away from windows and follow police instructions while the search continued. Multiple streets were closed in the surrounding area, and transit was temporarily suspended in the area.

Police announce officer killed

Just after 1:30 PM, the official X account for the SVPM confirmed that one officer had been killed in the shooting. The armed suspect was also pronounced dead, and the SPVM announced that one civilian had also died, bringing the death total to three.

In addition to the three fatalities, another SPVM officer was injured in the altercation. With three people killed, this incident is one of the deadliest shootings in the city's history.

Montreal police held a press conference at 3 PM, just hours after the shooting. Police Chief Fady Dagher confirmed that the SVPM received a 911 call at 11:35 AM from a unit in the Westbury projects. Police responded to the call, where they exchanged fire with the suspect. It was then that one civilian, one officer, and the suspect were killed.

Dagher confirmed that the other injured officer is now in stable condition at a hospital. Dagher also confirmed that one other civilian was ‘lightly injured' but is also in stable condition.

Chief Dagher made it clear that the SVPM do not know what the shooter's motive is. The shooter was dressed in camouflage and was holding what appeared to be a long-barreled rifle. Chief Dagher could not confirm whether the civilian killed was shot by the suspect or by the officers who responded to the call. Dagher called the result ‘a crossfire'. This is Dagher's first major violent incident of his tenure as police chief. The chief was asked whether the incident was being investigated as a terrorist attack, but Dagher did not reveal any more information.

The SVPM has made it clear that the investigation is just beginning.

It has been 24 years since a police officer was killed by a civilian. In 2002, Constable Benoît L'Écuyer was shot four times by an armed suspect during a response to a shooting. With three deaths and five total victims, the Côte-des-Neiges shooting is one of the deadliest in Montreal's history, and the deadliest of the 21st century.