Gun violence in Montreal | Wounds still open

Torn by the death of Mehdi Douraid last March, his relatives challenge the police and elected officials

Mayssa Ferah
The Press

By contacting The Press almost six months after the assassination of his son, Abdenbi Douraid had promised himself not to crack.

But as soon as he sat on the Moroccan sofa in the family living room, he burst into tears. He scans the room where he and his boy spent their last moments together. His eyes stop on the switched off television.

“I can’t even turn on the TV to watch soccer anymore. I watched matches with Mehdi. Me, it was Real Madrid. He was Liverpool, ”he explains. Difficult to control her crying when the memory of her son is still present.

Mehdi Douraid, 28, left La Cage aux sports in the Place Versailles shopping center on the evening of March 10. He was about to go home when his car was riddled with bullets. Shot in the upper body and taken to hospital, he succumbed to his injuries.

“Your son was killed, the investigators told us. They didn’t want to tell us right away that it was with a gun. We never had more details, ”says Mr. Douraid.

The investigation is still ongoing. According to our information, it could be a mistake on the person. Mehdi Douraid would have been in the wrong place, at the wrong time, like many victims who have fallen under the bullets in the last two years in the metropolis.

“All my friends told me: I was lucky to have a brother like him”, describes his sister Maïssa Douraid. He was caring and protective. He thought of his family first.

He didn’t like problems and confrontations. He was working. “It was the creme de la creme. He was a helpful person. We will never forget it, ”said his mother, Khadija Essadeq, sobbing.

Difficult healing

“We don’t know anything. It is not known if any suspects have been identified. We don’t know why they took Mehdi from us,” said the deceased’s mother with a sigh.

Parents are unable to grieve. The assassin is still running. He may have had other victims this year. Young adults ready to bite into life, like their son.

Because sometimes the judges are too lenient, denounces the couple.

The announcements of the millions injected into police repression do not make him hot or cold. “For us, there is a before Mehdi and an after Mehdi. We will never see him again. We don’t want to know the sums, we want to know the concrete plan to make it stop, ”explains M^me Essadeq.

Violence denounced, families forgotten

The issue is exploited for political purposes, but the families affected are rarely supported by public figures who denounce armed violence with tweets, underlines Maïssa, Mehdi’s sister.

She spoke out against gun violence in a letter to Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, sent days after her brother died last spring. “I accused the politicians of injecting money, but of not being transparent and detailing a concrete plan for us”, sums up the young woman. She was then shocked, angry and scared. She regretted having had no word from the elected officials. She questioned the City’s priorities.

The mayor’s office quickly responded to his message. We called her for a virtual interview. “I expected to find the mayor, but it was two councillors. There was never a tribute for my brother. Statements. As if it was made normal to lose young people who go to the restaurant or the shopping center. »

Underestimated insecurity

It is easy to repeat ad nauseam that Montreal is a safe city, adds Maïssa Douraid. This mantra does not translate into the daily lives of citizens, she continues. “Before, I was living my life. Now I don’t go out at night anymore. I work at night. When I finish too late, I stay asleep at work,” says the obstetrics nurse, who works at the hospital.

“I don’t go out at night anymore. When I see a car slowing down, I look at the license plate, the driver. When it happens to you, it changes everything,” says the father.

The family, who have lived in Montreal North for several years, are looking for a house in the suburbs.

“We really live in anguish. For us, it’s not just articles in the news. It’s a real chance to die [sous les balles]it can happen,” says M.^me Essadeq.