A Quebec court has sentenced 23-year-old Abdirazak Mahdi Ahmed to 66 months in prison for his role in a shooting outside Yeshiva Gedola, a Jewish school in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges district. The incident occurred roughly one month after the October 7, 2023, attacks.
The penalty was handed down after Ahmed pleaded guilty in September, aligning with a joint sentencing recommendation from both the Crown and the defence.
“A person who carries out this type of attack against schools is, in the view of this court, a coward,” Quebec Court Judge Pierre Labelle remarked at sentencing.
The shooting occurred on the morning of Sunday, November 12, 2023, shortly before 5:00 a.m. on Deacon Road in Montreal.
According to the Montreal Gazette, Ahmed and an accomplice arrived at the school in a stolen vehicle, after which Ahmed discharged a 9 mm handgun toward one of the building’s doors.
Ahmed then entered the passenger seat of the moving vehicle, and the pair fled the scene.
Responding officers found bullet holes in the entrance door and spent shell casings on the ground. The building was unoccupied, and no injuries were reported.
DNA, Cellphone Records, and Undercover Officer Link Suspect to Shooting
Canadian media outlets reported that the getaway vehicle, an Acura, had been stolen the day before.
Police found the abandoned vehicle several hours after the shooting and recovered ammunition, a ski mask, a surgical mask, and latex gloves.
Investigators found Ahmed’s DNA on items recovered from the vehicle, and cellphone location data placed him near the yeshiva at the time of the attack.
Statements Ahmed made to an undercover officer placed in his detention cell further linked him to the shooting.
Montreal police arrested Ahmed on May 22, 2024, in the borough of LaSalle, roughly six months after the incident.
He has remained in custody since his arrest and pleaded guilty in September 2026 to a single count of discharging a firearm.
The 66-month sentence accounts for time already served.
Prosecutors State Antisemitic Motive Could Not Be Established
During the plea hearing, investigators said they could not establish that the shooting was motivated by antisemitism.
Prosecutors also noted there was no evidence connecting Ahmed to two separate shootings three days earlier, on November 9, 2023, which targeted Yeshiva Gedola and another Jewish school, Azrieli Talmud Torah.
Both earlier shootings remain unsolved.
According to the Montreal Gazette, police arrested the alleged getaway driver, 21-year-old Joseph Pageau-Layto of Vaudreuil, in February 2025.
The charge directly related to the shooting was later dropped. However, prosecutor Jean-Christophe Ardanos said Pageau-Layto still faces charges related to the stolen vehicle used in the attack.
Court records indicate that Pageau-Layto intends to plead guilty to the remaining charge at a later date.