Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada called for stricter gun control in Canada Tuesday in the wake of Monday’s shooting in Côte-des-Neiges that left a police officer, a civilian and the suspected shooter dead.
The former Liberal member of Parliament for Hochelaga supported federal gun control legislation during her time in Parliament.
“How can we do better in the future to prevent something like this?” Martinez Ferrada said Tuesday.
The mayor referenced the Dec. 6, 1989, École Polytechnique massacre that left 14 women dead and another 14 people injured, in a misogynistic, antifeminist attack.
“Even people that lived through Polytechnique will tell you that I think we can go further,” Martinez Ferrada said.
“I know it’s difficult because guns sometimes are … in many areas for hunting, for Indigenous communities. But in a city like Montreal, we need to have a better control of what’s happening in the street in terms of gun control.”
She questioned how someone could just start shooting people in the street.
“We have to fight back against people’s ability to own guns and use them in the streets in this manner,” Martinez Ferrada said in French.
“We don’t believe that there’s any room for people to use guns in a city like Montreal.”
Some residents in the area where Monday’s shooting took place are afraid to leave home to do their errands, said Stéphanie Valenzuela, borough mayor of Montréal’s Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
“Every time they’re in the area, they’re re-living what happened yesterday. So, it’s very difficult for the residents,” Valenzuela said in French.
“All we can do is support them and listen.”
It will take some time for people to recover from Monday’s shootings, Martinez Ferrada said.
“I want to assure Montrealers that Montreal is safe,” she said.
The terrifying string of events began around 11:35 a.m. Monday. Police were called to the scene near the intersection of Trans Island and De Courtrai avenues in the city’s Snowdon district.
Videos captured dramatic gun battle where a man clad in camouflage and carrying a long gun opened fire on police officers in the neighbourhood of Côte-des-Neiges, killing one and wounding another.
Montreal police identified the dead officer as Const. Mohamed Lamine Benredouane. He was 34 years old.
A civilian was also killed in the crossfire, 68-year-old Michel Mizrahi.
The attack began after police arrived to address 911 reports of an armed man seen in the window of a Hilton Hotel. Once on scene, however, they immediately came under fire by a gunman at ground level.
The Quebec coroner identified the suspect as Seth Scott Hatfield, a 25-year-old from Lethbridge, Alta.
Martinez Ferrada was critical of the numerous “very graphic” videos of the shootings posted on social media after the attacks.
“It desensitizes,” the mayor said in French. “We can’t accept that. As a society we need to be respectful and make sure that we are also (protecting) the dignity of the police officer we saw yesterday and the family that had to see those images.”
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