Gunman with incel manifesto killed by police after Montreal hotel shooting leaves officer and civilian dead

What happened

Montreal police received an emergency call around 11:35 a.m. on 22 June about a person sticking a gun out of a window at the Hilton hotel on Jean-Talon Street. Officers arrived and were targeted with gunfire. The suspect, wearing what appeared to be military-style clothing, moved outside and continued firing. A 34-year-old constable, Mohamed Lamine Benredouan, was struck and died. A female officer was seriously injured but is in stable condition. A civilian, later identified as Michael Moshe Mizrahi, was also killed; it is not yet clear whether the fatal shot came from the gunman or from police. Officers shot the suspect dead at the scene.

The victims

Benredouan had served with the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal since 2021. Chief Fady Dagher called it the first line-of-duty death of a Montreal officer in 24 years. Mizrahi, described by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs as “a beloved member of Montreal’s Jewish community,” was an unintended victim caught in the chaos of the gunbattle.

Manifesto and ideology

An official familiar with the investigation, speaking anonymously, confirmed that the suspect, identified in media reports as Seth Hatfield (also spelled Seth Hatefield) of Alberta, left a 104-page manifesto that espouses incel ideology. The document attacks women, Western capitalist society, and the pornography industry. The incel movement, short for “involuntary celibates,” comprises mostly heterosexual men radicalised by a perceived denial of sexual or romantic attention.

“There is a well-documented link between mass violence and hatred of women.”

The manifesto prompted a warning to police forces across Canada about the possibility of copycat attacks against officers.

Possible target

Because the manifesto explicitly condemns the pornography industry, investigators are examining whether Hatfield intended to attack the building housing Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, located directly opposite the Hilton hotel where he had rented a room.

Reactions

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was horrified by the tragedy and expressed gratitude to the brave officers. Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette called the events deeply shocking and saddening. The National Assembly of Quebec ordered flags at half-mast. Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada stressed the challenge of monitoring radicalisation on social media.

“A lot of people are being recruited, young people. They are not on the street, they are in a different space, which is much harder to control.”

Broader context

The attack echoes the 2018 Toronto van rampage by Alek Minassian, who killed 10 pedestrians and was convicted in 2021 of first-degree murder and attempted murder. That case drew widespread attention to online misogyny and incel extremism.