Montreal shooting: Three dead, police officer injured

Three dead and one injured

Three people lost their lives in the shootout. According to police, they were a police officer, a civilian, and the suspected attacker himself. A police officer was also shot but, according to authorities, is no longer in life-threatening danger.

Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher called the scene a «nightmare.» He stated: «We have a suspect, and he was shot.» The death of the officer weighs especially heavy because, according to his words, no police officer had been killed in the line of duty in Montreal in 24 years.

Investigators rule out terrorism

The background of the act remained initially unclear. Police stated that a terrorist motive has been ruled out. The exact circumstances of the incident are still under investigation. Security authorities had also initially not confirmed the existence or content of the alleged manifesto, it was further reported.

According to media reports, the perpetrator allegedly wrote a kind of manifesto. The document reportedly contained hateful language typical of the so-called incel movement. The incel movement is described as an anti-feminist online community that propagates archaic role models and misogynistic narratives.

Indications of an incel motive not confirmed

Security authorities did not initially confirm this account. A connection between the attacker and the incel movement was also not officially confirmed. Police merely stated that there are no further suspects in the case.

The Premier of the province of Quebec, Christine Fréchette, expressed herself cautiously about the reports. It was «essential to let the authorities do their work,» she warned against speculation and called on the public to remain composed.

The incident evokes memories of an earlier act of violence with a presumed similar background. In 2018, a follower of the incel movement in Toronto killed eleven people, most of them women. In the current case as well, media report that the perpetrator identified with incel ideology; an official confirmation is pending.

Memories of Toronto 2018

Investigations into the exact sequence of events, possible accomplices, and the motive are ongoing. Police secured the crime scene at the hotel in Côte-des-Neiges and took initial witness statements. Further findings are expected from the authorities in the coming days.

Residents of the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, a densely populated district in western Montreal, reacted with dismay to the news. Several streets around the crime scene were temporarily closed off. Residents reported helicopter noise and a heavy police presence over several hours.

The Canadian federal government was informed of the incident according to sources from government circles. A statement from Ottawa was not initially available. The city administration of Montreal also announced a press conference for the remainder of the day.

Reactions from Quebec and Ottawa

Police stated that no further suspects were being sought. They therefore assume that the deceased attacker acted alone. This assessment could still change in the course of further investigations, the investigators qualified.

The violent death of the police officer marks, according to police, the first time in 24 years that a police officer was killed in the line of duty in Montreal. Police Chief Dagher spoke of a «particularly painful» experience for the city's entire police force. The injured police officer was also treated in hospital in the meantime.

Authorities continued to ask the public to direct any information from the area around the crime scene to police. At the same time, they warned against spreading unconfirmed information on social media. Investigators announced they would clarify the incident «with all available means.»