“The first sound was panic. Then came the sirens, the police rifles and the kind of fear that makes parents pull children off a playground and run.”
A police officer was killed in Montreal on Monday after a gunman opened fire in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood, triggering a chaotic shootout that also left the suspect dead and another officer seriously wounded.
The violence unfolded late Monday morning in an area better known for apartment blocks, family businesses and schools than for scenes like this. Police said officers were responding to a 911 call about a man with a gun at a Hilton hotel on Décarie Boulevard when they came under fire. By the time it was over, Constable Mohamed Lamine Benredouane, 34, had been killed in the line of duty, the first Montreal officer to die that way in 24 years. Another officer was rushed to the hospital and later reported stable. A civilian was also killed, though authorities said it was still not clear who fired the shot that struck that person.
For people who live nearby, the morning changed in seconds.
Residents described hearing bursts of gunfire and watching families run for cover. One resident, Brandon Benchimel-Elkaim, said he saw parents pulling their children off playground equipment and running for safety after the first shots rang out. Another witness, Heidi Doctor, told local media she was sitting in her car after dropping off her child when police suddenly swarmed the area with guns drawn, forcing her to move and then wait for hours while her children hid inside a salon nearby.
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Police Chief Fady Dagher later said the suspect had acted alone and had been “neutralized” by officers. He called it a “very, very sad day” for the city. Investigators recovered a long gun at the scene and were still trying to piece together exactly how the confrontation unfolded, including whether the attacker had opened fire from a hotel window before moving outside. Authorities also confirmed that Quebec’s police watchdog would investigate the shooting, including reports and videos circulating online that appear to show a civilian being hit during the exchange.
The city had been under a shelter-in-place warning for hours.
Roads were shut down, transit was disrupted, and residents were told to stay inside while police searched and secured the area. The scale of the response reflected just how unusual the shooting was for Montreal, where fatal attacks on police officers are rare. Quebec’s public security minister said no Montreal officer had been fatally shot in the line of duty in more than two decades.
What remains unclear is the motive.
Law enforcement sources said investigators were examining a lengthy manifesto they believe may have been written by the suspect and that it appeared to contain incel ideology, a misogynistic online belief system that has been linked to previous acts of violence in Canada. Officials have not yet publicly confirmed that motive as final, and police urged the public not to rely on rumours or unverified footage while the investigation continues.
By evening, the immediate danger had passed, but the mood in the city had clearly changed.
What began as an emergency call about an armed man became one of the darkest days Montreal police have faced in years, leaving behind a dead officer, a grieving department and a neighbourhood trying to make sense of how an ordinary weekday morning collapsed into gunfire so fast.
