An SPVM police officer places the cap of Montreal police officer Mohamed Lamine Benredouane next to his portrait during a ceremony in his honour, in Montreal on Tuesday.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Long before Mohamed Lamine Benredouane became a constable in Montreal, he was a little boy who dreamed of being a police officer.
Growing up in Skikda, Algeria, he would ride around in his father’s work vehicle, equipped with a flashing light his dad would turn on just for him. He loved uniforms, too, and years later he would carefully polish his boots and clean his bulletproof vest before every shift.
His childhood dream came true on Dec. 3, 2021, when he took his oath of office and joined the Montreal police force. Less than five years later, the dream was cut short.
On Tuesday, thousands of police officers from across the country gathered at the Bell Centre in Montreal to pay homage to Constable Benredouane, killed last month during a gunfight near a Hilton hotel in the city’s Côte-des-Neiges district.
On the morning of June 22, Constable Benredouane and his female partner responded to a 911 call about an armed man at the hotel, and were met with gunfire when they arrived on the scene. Constable Benredouane and a bystander, 68-year-old Michel Mizrahi, were killed in the ensuing gunfight, as was the alleged shooter, a university student from Lethbridge, Alta. Constable Benredouane’s partner was seriously injured.
“Our world has come crashing down,” the slain officer’s twin brother Ahmed Rochdi Benredouane said speaking alongside their two sisters at the memorial Tuesday. “We have lost a son, a husband, a father, a brother, a friend and a colleague. Personally, I have lost my other half.”
Montreal police officers take part in a procession in honour of Constable Benredouane.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Constable Benredouane moved to Canada with his family when he was 13 years old, settling in the same Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood where he would later serve. He recently started a family of his own, with a young son and a second child on the way.
In an emotional speech, Montreal police Chief Fady Dagher described the 34-year-old as a brave and kind-hearted officer who took care of those around him. Through tears, he addressed Constable Benredouane’s son, not yet three years old, and his unborn child. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to bring your dad back to you.”
Constable Benredouane was one of three police officers killed in the line of duty in Canada last month. On June 11, less than two weeks before his death, Toronto Police Service Constable Marc Pinizzotto was shot and killed during the planned takedown of an alleged shooters-for-hire network. On June 9, Ontario Provincial Police Constable Tarun Bali was struck by a car in the remote community of Hearst.
A private funeral service was held for Constable Benredouane two days after the shooting. He is the first Montreal police officer in 24 years to be killed on duty.
After Tuesday’s public ceremony, Chief Dagher told reporters that the injured police officer is doing “better and better,” but did not say whether she will return to active duty.
He also suggested he will take up the fight against the availability of the SKS rifle, a semi-automatic weapon believed to have been used by the shooter. “Several police officers in Canada have been killed by that weapon,” he said. “It’s certain that, eventually, this will be one of my battlegrounds.”
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Seth Scott Hatfield, 25, has been identified as the suspect in the shooting. A manifesto attributed to Mr. Hatfield expresses various grievances and complains that “common males” debase themselves watching pornography because they aren’t successful with women. The Globe previously reported that, according to a national security source, the nearby offices of adult-content distributor Aylo, which runs the website Pornhub, may have been the target of the shooter.
During the memorial service, Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette said the families of police officers live with the knowledge that their loved ones might not come home at the end of the day. “Behind every uniform there is a person, loved ones, dreams, an entire life,” she said. “A family that is also called upon to take the risk of this ultimate sacrifice.”
Before the ceremony, roughly 6,000 officers from across the country marched in a solemn procession through downtown Montreal, the surrounding streets closed to traffic and eerily silent. Their numbers eclipsed the small crowd that lined the boulevard to watch them pass.
Among those watching were Richard Daneau and Nathalie Gareau, parents of another Montreal police officer who knew Constable Benredouane. For them, the shooting hit close to home.
“It’s a lottery. The killer was waiting for the first police officer,” Mr. Daneau said. “It could have been our boy.”