Jewish man killed in Montreal shooting that also left a police officer dead

Reports indicate that shooter was motivated by ‘incel’ ideology and did not target Jewish neighborhood; Michael Mizrahi remembered as someone who ‘always has a kind word’

A shooting on Monday in a heavily Jewish neighborhood of Montreal left three people dead, including a civilian member of the Jewish community, a police officer and the alleged assailant, police in the Canadian city said.

But police indicated that the shooter had not been intentionally targeting the Jewish community, and some initial reports suggested that the civilian may have been killed by errant gunfire.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), a prominent Canadian civil society group, named the slain civilian as Michael Moshe Mizrahi, describing him as “a beloved member of Montreal’s Jewish community.”

According to the Chabad movement, Mizrahi was a regular at the organization’s MADA community center in Montreal.

“He loves to celebrate together with everyone,” MADA community member David Kakon said, according to Chabad. “Someone who is always smiling, always has a kind word for someone else. Loves his family, loves Israel, and loves being a Jew.”

While the bloodshed occurred in a partly Jewish neighborhood that includes kosher markets and restaurants, police declined comment on the shooter’s motive.

French language public broadcaster Radio Canada said the gunman was connected to “incel” ideology — a misogynistic worldview that fueled the man responsible for one of Canada’s most deadly mass killings, a 2018 vehicle-ramming in Toronto that killed 10.

Local Canadian news outlets published portions of the shooter’s manifesto which suggested he may have been targeting the offices of Aylo, the parent company of PornHub — the world’s largest pornography website — and its subsidiaries.

Montreal Police identified the deceased officer as Constable Mohamed Lamine Benredouan, 34. He had been with the force since 2021.

“It is with immense sadness that we confirm the death of one of our police officers in the line of duty,” Montreal police said in a statement posted on X.

Montreal police chief Fady Dagher said the incident was “more than terrible,” adding: “It’s a tragedy, a nightmare.”

At an early evening news conference, Quebec Domestic Security Minister Ian Lafrenière, said he would refrain from commenting on details about the suspect’s identity and motives since the matter is now under investigation by an independent police watchdog, which investigates officer-involved injuries and deaths.

Rabbi Motti Seligson, a Chabad spokesman in New York, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that, based on what he has heard from Chabad representatives in Montreal, the shooting did not seem to be related to the Jewish community.

Getzy Markowitz, a rabbi who works in the area, said the shooting took place in a community with multiple Jewish institutions, including educational centers and a food bank.

“People are asking me if it’s an attack on the Jewish community. I think it would just be completely irresponsible even [to] speak to that at this point, because [all] we know, it was an attack right now on the police,” he said.

Many members of the Jewish community were sheltering in place on the street where the attack took place, with two telling JTA that, to the best of their knowledge, the attack did not appear to be targeting Jews.

Yitzhak Rosenblum, a member of the local Chevra Kadisha, a volunteer burial society, said that he was working at his office “when I heard a bunch of cops flying by and I heard some gunshots.”

Quebec’s public security minister, Ian Lafreniere, said “for now, we don’t really know what the motive of this individual was.”

Quebec Premier Christine Frechette said she was “deeply shaken by the tragic events that occurred today in the Côte-des-Neiges area.”

“It is essential to allow the authorities to do their work and to avoid speculation,” added Frechette.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “horrified” by the violence.

Côte-des-Neiges was the scene of postwar Jewish settlement as Jewish families ascending from the working to the middle class moved west from the area of St. Laurent Boulevard. The area, with treelined streets studded with duplexes and low-rise apartment buildings, had a friendly neighborhood ambience and lacked the anti-Jewish restrictions some of the wealthier enclaves maintained at the time.

There are a number of Jewish schools and synagogues in the area, including the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, the oldest congregation in the country, established in 1768 and relocated to the neighborhood in 1947. The neighborhood is now the site of a large Chabad community and a number of Jewish restaurants and delis.

The neighborhood has been targeted by gunfire in recent years, including incidents in 2023 and 2024, where shots were fired at Orthodox schools.