François Legault wondered on Friday why the shot suspect of the three Montreal murders, Abdullah Shaikh, “was released” when he was “already targeted” by charges and had mental health problems, citing a possible “tightening” of surveillance measures.
Posted at 3:17 p.m.
“I’m glad we got rid of this individual. And there, we also have to see what happened, because given that it was someone who was already targeted, why was he released? Do we need to tighten…? I am still happy with the work that was done by the police. They acted quickly,” the prime minister said.
Abdulla Shaikh was diagnosed with schizophrenia and narcissistic and antisocial personality traits, among other things, according to court documents. In 2016, he was charged, among other things, with sexual and weapon assault. His trial was scheduled for next January, in Laval.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Premier Francois Legault
In another mischief case in 2018, he was found not criminally responsible. He had since been followed in psychiatry and had been hospitalized until 2021. His condition required an annual review by the Mental Disorders Review Board, the last of which had been carried out in March 2022. According to our information, the suspect had been hospitalized at least once at the Philippe-Pinel National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry. A psychiatrist had also judged last March that he represented “still a significant risk to public safety”.
Mr. Legault claims to have spoken over the past few days about this matter with his cabinet and his colleagues from the Ministry of Public Security. He recalled that the Minister of Public Security, Geneviève Guilbault, met on Friday with police chiefs from the Montreal region, the SPVM, the Laval police and the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).
It’s terrible what happened: three gratuitous murders. First, I offer my condolences to the families. It must be so hard to take. […] I hope that won’t happen again.
François Legault, Premier of Quebec
The most recent victim of this series of homicides is Alex Lévis Crevier, a 22-year-old Laval resident. He was riding a skateboard in the Laval-des-Rapides district when the shootings occurred. He would have been randomly targeted. Two men were killed within an hour of each other on Tuesday evening. The first victim is André Fernand Lemieux, a 64-year-old man, father of Quebec boxer David Lemieux.
An hour later, officers found a man lying on the ground with gunshot wounds, about two miles from the first kill. Mohamed Salah Belhaj, an intervention officer at the Albert-Prévost mental health hospital, 48, also succumbed to his injuries.
Moreover, the Trudeau government decreed on Friday that it will be prohibited to import handguns into Canada in two weeks. This prohibition already appeared in Bill C-21 tabled on May 30 in the House of Commons, but the government is accelerating its entry into force.
The investigation into the police operation on Thursday morning, during which the suspect Abdullah Shaikh was shot dead at the Pierre motel in the borough of Saint-Laurent, has been transferred to the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI). The SQ, meanwhile, will be responsible for investigating the three homicides.