A barrage of gunfire erupted at a Montreal hotel on Monday, leaving three people dead, including a city police officer and a civilian, in what authorities have described as a devastating attack. The suspect, armed with a long gun, was shot and killed by responding officers, bringing an end to a chaotic scene that triggered a citywide emergency alert and paralyzed traffic in the area.

Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher confirmed the incident began around 11:35 a.m. when emergency services received a 911 call about a person pointing a firearm from a window at the Hilton hotel. Officers arrived at the scene and were immediately met with gunfire. Video footage of the incident showed the suspect had moved from inside the hotel to the street level where the exchange of fire took place.

The attack left three dead: Constable Mohamed Lamine Benredouan, 34, a civilian identified by advocates as Michael Moshe Mizrahi, and the unidentified male suspect . A second officer was seriously wounded in the shooting and remains hospitalized in stable condition. It was not immediately clear whether the civilian was struck by police gunfire or rounds fired by the suspect, an area that remains under investigation by the province's independent police watchdog .

Chief Dagher called the loss a "nightmare," noting that it marked the first time in 24 years that a Montreal police officer was killed in the line of duty . "It's a very, very sad day," Dagher told reporters, his voice reflecting the profound grief felt across the department.

Witnesses described a scene of terror unfolding on a busy weekday morning. Jacob Coutu, a construction worker in the area, said he heard initial shots and then witnessed the full violence erupt. "We saw cops getting in a gunfight, getting shot down," Coutu recalled, adding that he estimated the sound of at least 30 to 40 rounds of gunfire.

As the situation escalated, public safety officials issued a shelter-in-place emergency alert to residents in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, warning of an armed and dangerous suspect. The alert prompted the temporary closure of the Décarie expressway and the suspension of service on significant sections of two major subway lines as police worked to secure the area and search for potential additional threats . Authorities eventually lifted the alert shortly after 3 p.m.

In the aftermath, the province's police watchdog, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), has assigned investigators to look into the actions of police during the operation. Quebec Domestic Security Minister Ian Lafrenière, himself a former Montreal police officer, urged the public not to share graphic videos of the shooting circulating online out of respect for the victims. He also confirmed that multiple agencies, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, were consulted and concluded the shooting was not a terrorist attack .

However, law enforcement in other provinces were placed on high alert. A police spokesperson in British Columbia confirmed that forces were warned about the possibility of "documentation or some type of manifesto" circulating that called for violence against police officers . This intelligence, issued by an RCMP unit, was disseminated following the "tragic events" in Montreal, leading to heightened vigilance across the country.