Abdulla Shaikh’s brother had already notified authorities that his brother posed a danger “to others and to himself” before he was involved in the triple murder that occurred in the summer of 2022.
Samir Shaikh also questioned the treatment his brother Abdulla Shaikh received during a stay in hospital two years before the tragedy.
“It was clear that he was not well,” explained Samir Shaikh in his testimony to coroner Géhane Kamel. Since Monday, she has chaired the investigation into the murders of André Lemieux, Mohamed Belhaj and Alex Lévis-Crevier as well as the death of suspect Abdulla Shaikh, shot dead by the police.
The Shaikh family had already contacted the authorities in the past regarding Abdulla Shaikh, who had then disappeared without providing any news. The 26-year-old man was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2017.
Abdulla Shaikh ends up speaking to the police the day her family becomes worried. When his brother sees him, he realizes that he is not in a normal state. “I could see he hadn’t slept or eaten. »
” I said [aux policiers] that I know my brother: he is not doing well. He is a danger to himself and to others,” continued Mr. Shaikh. According to his testimony, the police told him that they could not arrest him if he had not committed a crime.
“The police did nothing,” said Samir Shaikh on Wednesday afternoon.
“He heard voices”
Abdulla Shaikh leaves to live in an apartment alone in 2018 and everything seems to change at that moment. Police interventions against him over the years appear to be linked to his psychiatric disorders. “It got worse. Logically, it doesn’t make sense to wait until you commit a crime to stop it. My brother, I said that he was not doing well,” believes Samir Shaikh.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE CORONER / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Abdulla Shaikh
Brother of man shot by police questions changes to Abdulla Shaikh’s medication.
“I wonder. Why before did he have to receive injections every month and finally we change that for every three months? “, he put forward.
Abdulla Shaikh had already spent 10 months in hospital linked to his psychiatric problems.
Samir Shaikh also mentioned that he once wanted to flee the country. He even found himself at the Dorval airport.
“He heard voices, saw things in the street. The voices were telling him to go to the airport, to get out of Canada,” says the brother.
Abdulla Shaikh had no known friends, lived alone and had very little contact with others. “He never mentioned any problems with people to me. He was often all alone after leaving the hospital. »
To his knowledge, he did not use drugs or alcohol before the triple murder. At the time of the tragedy, he had not seen his brother for about three months.
He does not know how he obtained the two firearms and numerous ammunition seized by the police on August 4, 2022. He did not have a job and received money from the government during the pandemic.
Coroner Géhane Kamel thanked Samir Shaikh, the only member of the suspect’s family to testify. “There are people who make choices for which families suffer. For me, you are also part of the bereaved families,” she told him. She mentioned a few times during the investigation that she wanted to avoid the stigmatization of people struggling with mental disorders.
Grieving families
Family members of the three victims of the triple murder also gave moving testimonies. “The hardest thing is that my children remember their uncle and what happened,” said Roxanne Lévis-Crevier, big sister of Alex Lévis-Crevier, killed by bullets while he was traveling in skateboard.
The 22-year-old young man lived near her home and was regularly around her three children.
She learned the sad news of the triple murder on social networks. She then tried to contact her brother about it, without success.
Aggressive and violent, says ex-spouse
Abdulla Shaikh could be aggressive towards strangers well before the triple homicide, explained Marllely Florez Serna, who was in a relationship with the 26-year-old man between 2014 and 2016.
He sometimes behaved angryly towards strangers. “He was capable of getting angry. He could be calm, but if people got too involved with him he would get angry,” said the young woman.
This attitude was caused by mundane events like slow service at Tim Hortons or someone passing him in a car. “He once wanted to hit someone with a stick and spit on someone. He said it, but he didn’t do it. »
She told the coroner that Abdulla Shaikh had hit her before. “There were cases of physical, verbal and financial aggression towards me. »
The ex-partner was never aware of any mental health issues during the time she was in a relationship with Abdulla Shaikh.