Michael Mizrahi, a Jewish resident of Montreal, died after being shot during a shooting incident on Wednesday in Montreal, Canada. He had been critically wounded and later pronounced dead in hospital. The attack also left a police officer dead, and several other wounded people were evacuated to hospitals. The officer killed was identified by Montreal police as Mohamed Lamine Ben Radouane.
Mizrahi’s family spent hours without clear information about his condition. Two of his daughters live in Israel, and another child lives with him in Canada. His son in Montreal was unable for hours to reach the hospital where his father was being treated, until police later informed him that his father had been killed earlier at the scene.
ZAKA’s international unit said it is working with local authorities to release Mizrahi’s body and bring it to burial in Israel, at the request of family members in Israel. Yossi Landau, ZAKA’s operations officer in Lakish, said the family first contacted him to help determine the father’s condition, and that after the official death confirmation, ZAKA immediately began handling the required procedures. Moshe Blech, a ZAKA volunteer in Montreal who was at the scene, said the organization is now accompanying the family and will enter the site once permitted to collect remains and treat the deceased with proper respect.
The shooting took place in the heart of one of Montreal’s largest Jewish communities, near kosher restaurants and Jewish institutions, in a residential complex that houses many Chabad families. Rabbi Chaim Shlomo Cohen said the attack was “a street away” from his Chabad house and that police ordered everyone to stay inside while people were evacuated there from the hotel where the shooting occurred. He said Mizrahi, who had moved to the neighborhood and was a regular visitor to Chabad, was mistakenly shot by a police officer who thought he was one of the attackers. Cohen also said police indicated the attack did not appear to be directed at Jews, but rather at police, though the motive remains unclear.
Montreal police said Ben Radouane died “in the line of duty” while protecting the public. Canadian media reported that a manifesto found in the shooter’s hotel room appeared to express hatred of women and opposition to the capitalist establishment, ending with a call to “be determined and kill them,” though it was unclear whom he meant. Police have not released the shooter’s identity.
