A 20-year-old man has just been arrested by Montreal police in connection with the shots fired at the Yeshiva Gedola Jewish school, in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame- borough. de-Grâce, last November.
This was announced by the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) in a press release at the end of the day on Wednesday. The suspect was arrested in the LaSalle area by agents of the West Criminal Investigation Division.
He appeared earlier Wednesday afternoon at the Montreal courthouse and now faces charges of discharging a firearm, theft and receiving stolen vehicles.
However, the investigation will continue, with the authorities still believing possible “the participation of one or more other individuals in this event”, assures the SPVM.
Therefore, anyone with relevant information related to this case is invited to contact 911, their local station or the Info-Crime Montréal organization at 514-393-1133, to transmit information confidentially. A form can also be completed on the organization’s website, if necessary.
Twice in three days
On November 12, shots were heard by several citizens at the Yeshiva Gedola school, located on Deacon Road, near the intersection with Van Horne Avenue. It all happened around 5 a.m. on a Sunday, and a suspect was at that time seen by certain members of the neighborhood.
A vehicle was then seen quickly leaving the scene. Police found bullet holes and shell casings. No one was in the establishment at the time of the event, the police said at the time.
However, all this happened after only a few days earlier, two Jewish schools, including the same Yeshiva Gedola, had already been targeted by gunfire. It was school employees who noticed the damage to the buildings when they arrived at work. The Yeshiva Gedola Jewish school was therefore the target of gunfire twice in three days.
“The Jewish community in Montreal is under attack,” declared the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, describing the act as anti-Semitic. “Here, these are children who come to school. They are small. They are families. Montrealers who contribute to life in society,” persisted the municipal representative, visibly in shock.
In Quebec, Prime Minister François Legault also said he was “wholeheartedly goes to the Jewish community of Quebec”. “Every effort will be made to find and punish the culprits. The Quebec nation is a peaceful nation. Let’s not import the hatred and violence that we see elsewhere in the world,” he added in a tweet on the social network X.
For the vice-president of the Advisory Center for Jewish and Israeli Relations (CIJA), Eta Yudin, “we cannot underestimate the stress and anxiety” that this affair has generated in the Jewish community. “While the escalation of violence and hatred against our community only continues, we are nevertheless pleased to see that additional charges may be filed against the suspect. This senseless act, this act of terror, must be able to lead to more serious accusations,” said Mme Yudin.
“This will send a strong message that targeting a community with such acts is unacceptable. It must be remembered that some politicians had rightly declared that shooting at schools was a form of terrorism. The safety of Jewish Quebecers is at stake, but also the safety of all Montrealers,” she persisted, welcoming the investigative work.