Shooter in 3 Montreal-area deaths went to Toronto Zoo between killings, inquest hears

The shooter who gunned down three Montreal-area men last August went to Ontario to visit a zoo and an amusement park between killings, a coroner's inquest heard on the first day of hearings Monday.

Abdulla Shaikh, 26, was identified by video surveillance and receipts at the Toronto Zoo and Canada's Wonderland a day after killing his first two victims, said Alexandra Caron Vadeboncoeur, an investigative sergeant with the Sureté du Québec (SQ), who was the first to testify Monday. 

She said Shaikh shot the three men on the street within a period of about 24 hours between Aug. 2 and Aug. 3, 2022 before police eventually tracked him down and fatally shot him.

Shaikh had been under the supervision of a mental health hospital.

Months before he was killed, Quebec's mental health review board, the Commission d'examen des troubles mentaux, ruled that he could continue living in the community under conditions, despite him posing a "significant risk" to public safety, as he'd been improving over the past six months. 

Coroner Géhane Kamel is presiding over the inquest into the killings of André Lemieux, 64, Mohamed Salah Belhaj, 48, Alex Lévis-Crevier, 22, as well as Shaikh's death. 

Kamel said in her opening statement that the hearings will shed light on the deaths and produce recommendations to help prevent similar killings from occurring.

Caron Vadeboncoeur testified Shaikh shot and killed Lemieux at a bus stop in Montreal's Saint-Laurent borough around 9:45 p.m. on the night of Aug. 2. An hour later, Salah Belhaj was fatally shot while walking to work in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough, about two kilometres away. 

About 24 hours later, after his trip to Ontario, Shaikh gunned down Lévis-Crevier while he was riding his skateboard in Laval, Caron Vadeboncoeur testified. 

There was no connection between the victims nor with the suspect, Caron Vadeboncoeur said, concluding the victims were chosen randomly. 

She said that according to witnesses and video footage, a white Dodge Challenger was in the vicinity of where all three people were killed.

After the second killing, police found a vehicle matching that description and put it under surveillance before realizing it was the wrong one. Police were able to identify the right vehicle and its licence plate after the third killing.

Police located the car's owner, who told them he'd rented the vehicle to Shaikh on July 29 via a car-sharing app. 

Officers tracked Shaikh to a motel room in Montreal's Saint-Laurent borough, where officers executed a search warrant around 7 a.m.

Mélissa-Amélie Plourde, an investigator with the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), told the inquest police threw a diversion device into the room — a stun grenade that emits a loud noise and bright light — in hopes of disorienting Shaikh. 

Once officers broke through the door, Shaikh fired shots in their direction, Plourde said. 

Officers returned fire and fatally shot Shaikh. No charges will be brought against the officers, concluded the BEI, which investigates when someone is injured or killed during a police intervention.

Sgt. Claude Thibault of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) led the tactical team that day. He testified Monday it was the most high-risk operation he's ever conducted, citing, among other factors, limited ways in and out of the motel. 

Caron Vadeboncoeur said police recovered two 9-mm handguns linked to Shaikh — one in the motel room with his DNA on it and another in the Dodge Challenger. 

Shaikh did not have a permit for the weapons, Caron Vadeboncoeur said, adding they were possibly acquired through the black market. 

Shaikh diagnosed with schizophrenia

Police concluded the shootings were not related to terrorism but rather, to mental health issues. 

Shaikh had had several run-ins with the law, including charges of sexual assault, assault causing bodily harm and uttering threats.

In 2018, he was arrested for trespassing at the Montreal airport several days in a row.

In one instance, court documents show Shaikh was in a restricted zone at the airport and burned his passport with a lighter. In November of that year, he was deemed not criminally responsible for his actions.

Caron Vadeboncoeur said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia around 2017 or 2018 and was not taking his medication as prescribed.

In the lead up to the killings, Shaikh had been living alone in a Montreal apartment but did not have any friends, Caron Vadeboncoeur said. He was close to his mother, who had been texting him on WhatsApp around the time of the murders.

Donald Simpson, a former lieutenant with the SPVM's major crimes unit who helped lead the investigation, testified Monday that there is a major lack of communication between health centres and police forces concerning people with mental health issues who have run-ins with the law. 

The inquest is expected to last until Oct. 20 and to hear from the families of the victims, the president of Quebec's mental health review board as well as representatives from various mental health services.