Man gets 66 months for school shooting
A Quebec judge sentenced Abdirazak Mahdi Ahmed for firing at a Montreal yeshiva in 2023, a case investigators could not link to antisemitism.
By Isaac Medina ·
Abdirazak Mahdi Ahmed will spend 66 months in prison for shooting at a Jewish school in Montreal. A Quebec court handed down the sentence on Monday, November 9, 2026. Ahmed, 23, received credit for the time he has already spent in custody. The sentence followed a joint recommendation from prosecutors and his defense team. Ahmed pleaded guilty to the charge in September 2026.
The attack occurred on November 12, 2023, shortly before 5 a.m. Ahmed and an accomplice drove a stolen Acura to the entrance of Yeshiva Gedola in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood. They fired a 9 mm handgun at the school's door. The driver moved the vehicle, and Ahmed climbed into the passenger seat before they escaped. The incident happened about a month after the October 7, 2023, massacre.
Officers who responded found bullet holes in the entrance door and spent cartridge casings on the ground. No one was inside the building when the shots were fired, so no injuries were reported. Police found the abandoned vehicle several hours later. Inside, they recovered ammunition, a ski mask, a surgical mask, and latex gloves.
Investigators linked Ahmed to the crime through DNA evidence on items found in the car. Cellphone location records also placed him near the school at the time of the shooting. Ahmed made statements to an undercover officer while in detention that helped establish his connection to the attack. Police arrested him in Montreal's LaSalle borough on May 22, 2024. He has remained in custody since that arrest.
Judge Pierre Labelle condemned the attack during the sentencing hearing. He described anyone who carries out such an attack on a school as a coward. Investigators said they could not establish an antisemitic motive for the shooting. Prosecutors also stated that no evidence connected Ahmed to two other shootings at Jewish schools on November 9, 2023. Those cases remain unsolved.
Joseph Pageau-Layto, 21, of Vaudreuil, was arrested in February 2025 as the alleged getaway driver. Prosecutors dropped the charge directly related to the shooting. However, prosecutor Jean-Christophe Ardanos said charges concerning the stolen vehicle remain. Court records show Pageau-Layto intends to plead guilty to the remaining charge at a later date.
