Communication is “non-existent” between hospitals and police officers, who repeatedly arrest the same people suffering from mental health disorders, said an SPVM veteran.
Lieutenant Donald Simpson, responsible for major crimes within the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM), responded to a question from coroner Géhane Kamel, who has presided over the investigation into the deaths of three selected citizens since Monday. randomly and shot dead in Montreal and Laval by a young schizophrenic man, in less than 48 hours.
Over the coming weeks, mental health and the support offered by the health system will be at the heart of Ms.me Kamel who will try to shed light on the circumstances of the murders committed by Abdulla Shaikh, aged 26.
On August 2, 2022, in Montreal, he shot dead André Lemieux (64 years old) who was waiting for his bus, Mohamed Belhaj (48 years old) who was walking to get to work and the next day, he shot young Alex Lévis-Crevier (22 years old) who was traveling on a skateboard in Laval. Shaikh was shot dead in his motel room by police officers from the SPVM Tactical Group, not without having opened fire in their direction himself.
“There was no link between the victims,” testified the investigating sergeant of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), Alexandra Caron Vadeboncoeur, whose police force took over the investigation.
As for Abdulla Shaikh, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2018, according to documents filed for the investigation. He had been in trouble with the police numerous times over the years, including for threats, fraud, assault, and sexual assault, but without being convicted, she continued while reporting on the case. police investigation before the coroner, at the Montreal courthouse.
But in 2018, he was charged with attempted break-ins at Mirabel airport and for being present or attempting to enter prohibited areas at Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport in Montreal. He also tried to burn his Canadian passport there with a candle. The young man was declared not criminally responsible for these acts due to mental disorder and hospitalized in a psychiatric ward.
Shaikh was released in April 2021 by the Mental Health Review Board, although it considered that he still presented, due to his mental state, “a significant risk to public safety”.
This risk would, however, be controlled if it is subject to appropriate control and supervision, she wrote in her decision, which was confirmed by the Administrative Tribunal of Quebec in April 2022, just a few months before the triple homicide.
At the very end of Lieutenant Donald Simpson’s testimony, the coroner took matters into her own hands. She wondered about the case of these arrested people who are taken to a hospital center for mental health treatment, who are discharged and are arrested again shortly after. She herself asked the police officer: is the communication between hospitals and the police “fluid”?
“It is non-existent to my knowledge. The two systems don’t really talk to each other,” replied the lieutenant who spent 30 years at the SPVM.
On Monday, investigating sergeant Vadeboncoeur also revealed that Abdulla Shaikh took a detour to the Toronto zoo and an amusement park between his first two murders and the third.
It is not yet known how he obtained the firearms, even though he did not have a license. When he was arrested and shot by police, a gun without a serial number was found in the motel room where he had taken refuge and another in his vehicle. A magazine with a capacity of 31 bullets – an illegal device in Canada – was also found on site.
In the days following this series of murders which shocked the population, the chief coroner Pascale Descary ordered a public inquiry into these deaths. Around forty witnesses will be heard there over the coming weeks, including psychiatrists and family members of the victims.