Three murders in 24 hours | Suspect posed a ‘significant risk to public safety’

The alleged perpetrator of the three homicides committed this week in the Montreal area had been authorized to stay in the community after a long hospitalization linked to mental health problems, even though a psychiatrist judged last March that he represented “still a significant risk to public safety”.

Shot dead Thursday by the police, Abdulla Shaikh, 26, had a significant criminal history and hospitalization related to mental health issues, reveals a decision of the Commission for the Review of Mental Disorders (CETM) handed down last March and which The Press got a copy.

The man had been released from a mental health facility following a decision by the same administrative court on January 25, 2021. Abdulla Shaikh had been there since the summer of 2020 since his family, with whom he was living at the time, had expressed concerns about his “bizarre and dangerous behavior”.

This hospitalization stemmed from a series of misdeeds committed at Montreal-Trudeau airport in July 2018 following which he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Shaikh then burned his passport with a candle near the entrance fences. Incoherent, he then “alludes to a project, but he remains evasive”, can we read in a summary of the facts included in the document.

Note, Abdulla Shaikh was also accused of armed assault, sexual assault, assault and threats for facts that occurred in 2016. He was also awaiting his trial, scheduled for January 2023 in Laval.

Fear of “serious harm”

In January 2021, the CETM ruled that Shaikh had recovered sufficiently to return to live in a place approved by hospital officials, where he was still being treated, on several conditions. These include: keeping the peace, abstaining from drug use, submitting to urine drug testing when required.

Last March, in a review of this first decision, the Commission confirmed that Abdulla Shaikh could continue his treatment while remaining in the community. But the magistrates then raised the existence of several risk factors that could lead Shaikh to “commit an act that could cause serious harm to others”. Among these, the possibility that he poses “unpredictable and aggressive gestures”.

Indeed, in his report read during the hearing on March 29, 2022, psychiatrist Martin Vézina pointed out that Abdulla Shaikh “still represents a significant risk to public safety because of his mental state”.

“Among our persistent concerns: the denial and trivialization of behavioral disorders, violence and psychiatric pathology. The heavy history of accusations of criminal acts of various kinds remains denied, which trivializes the future risks of acting-out. Remember that the patient made multiple threats, implicit and explicit, during the last hospitalization, ”underlines the expert.

This is why the administrative judges judged it “essential” that the treatment team responsible for the man “be able to benefit from rapid and effective means in order to intervene, if the mental state of Mr. public safety”.

“The Commission accepts from the evidence that Mr. still represents, because of his mental state, a significant risk to public safety,” reads the conclusion of the decision.

The family persists in believing him innocent

Met Thursday, just hours after the death of the alleged killer in a motel in the borough of Saint-Laurent, his family confirmed that he was struggling with mental health problems. Despite everything, the brother of the deceased misunderstands why the police fired on the young man, when “no evidence” indicates that he was the perpetrator of the crimes, according to him.

“We are in shock. My brother was not dangerous. It’s impossible, ”he whispered through the door of his parents’ accommodation in Laval, tremolos in his voice. “My brother was innocent. The police have no evidence that he was the suspect. »

According to him, Abdulla Shaikh was taking his medication and controlling his mental health issues. He consulted. “I saw him on Tuesday. He was calm. Regular, mild. There was nothing aggressive about it. They should never have shot him. »

“He had already been arrested a long time ago. He suffered from serious mental health problems. He had been in the psychiatric hospital for a month, ”says the father of the young suspect, met Thursday by The Press. The family confirms several stays in psychiatry in recent years.

“The last time we saw him was on Tuesday. Everything was fine. He has treatments, ”added the mother. Her son had already been arrested by the police at Montreal airport “around April” when he was trying to travel to another country. The authorities had not ruled out the hypothesis that his mental disorders could have radicalized him and pushed him to want to leave Canada in the past, tells us a police source.

Three kills, one shooter

Authorities confirmed to the media during the day that the three homicides that have rocked the Montreal region in recent days were allegedly committed by a single shooter.

Abdulla Shaikh is the prime suspect in the murders of three innocent victims, according to our police information. He would have acted alone.

Searches took place shortly before 7 a.m. at the motel Pierre, in the borough of Saint-Laurent, where the suspect was hiding. According to our sources, the teams located during the night a vehicle – a white Dodge Challenger – rented by the suspect through the Turo platform. A large police perimeter had been erected for at least a few hours when Abdulld’a Shaikh was killed in the parking lot of the establishment.

As the 26-year-old was shot dead during a police operation, the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI) will be in charge of the investigation. The file of the three murders was transferred to the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).

It was the Tactical Intervention Group (GTI) which intervened with the suspect. “On the spot, they would have been confronted by a man in possession of a firearm. Shots were reportedly fired,” the BEI said in a statement.

The alleged murderer would have been hit by at least one projectile and his death was pronounced on the spot. On Twitter, Mayor Valérie Plante praised the work of the police, which she says once again demonstrates “its efficiency and dedication to the safety of Montrealers”. “The last 48 hours have been trying for everyone,” she insisted.

Two men were killed an hour apart on Tuesday evening, André Fernand Lemieux, 64, and Mohamed Salah Belhaj, 48. The third victim in this series of homicides is Alex Lévis Crevier, a 22-year-old Laval resident.

The SPVM “aware of the impact” of the events

The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) is aware of the impact of the three murders on the people of Montreal, said interim director Sophie Roy at a press conference.

There is only one suspect for the three homicides, she said, without confirming whether it was the man shot dead earlier in the day and without revealing his identity.

The SPVM considers that it cannot “comment more fully on the events and investigations in progress”, underlined Sophie Roy.

“It was a concerted effort by our teams, both in the field and the investigation, to locate the suspect. Then there was more work on the judicial side to obtain the authorizations to proceed with his arrest. […] What I can say today is that the threat has been neutralized,” confirmed the commander of neighborhood station 49, Emmanuel Anglade, on Thursday.

“The murders committed since [mardi] touched us all,” said Mr.^me Roy. The SPVM is aware of their impact on the feeling of security for the Montreal population. »

The acting director also wished to offer her condolences to the families and friends of the deceased. “We are all sensitive to the pain of families. »

In the neighborhoods affected, the security services of the SPVM will continue in the coming days. “Montrealers’ sense of security will always remain at the heart of the SPVM’s concerns,” said Ms.^me Roy.

With the collaboration of Isabelle Ducas, Lila Dussault and Daniel Renaud, The Press