Alleged Montreal Gunman Identified as 25-Year-Old Alberta Man

Authorities in Quebec have identified the deceased alleged gunman involved in a Montreal shooting that killed a police officer and a bystander.

On June 23, the province’s coroner identified the three people killed in the incident a day earlier. The alleged gunman was named as 25-year-old Seth Scott Hatfield of Lethbridge, Alta.

Montreal police have not released any information about the suspect or a potential motive.

Meanwhile, Lethbridge police issued a warning on June 23 that officers were conducting a “high-risk search” at a home in the city, asking the public to avoid the area along Lemoyne Crescent.

“As a precautionary measure, due to the possible presence of weapons, several neighbouring residences have been evacuated,” police said.

The police service told The Epoch Times it could not release further details about the search, including whether the search was related to Hatfield.

The victims of the June 22 shooting have been identified as Montreal police officer Mohamed Lamine Benredouane, 34, and Michel Mizrahi, 68, a bystander shot dead in the crossfire.

Benredouane was among the first police officers to arrive on the scene after responding to a 911 call from a Hilton hotel near a major highway in the city’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood.

Montreal police chief Fady Dagher said the 911 caller had reported hearing gunshots and seeing a rifle barrel outside a window.

When police arrived at the scene, the gunman was at the street level and fired towards responding officers.

Videos posted on social media show a police officer falling down as an individual dressed in military fatigues fires in his direction. Another police officer nearby ducks for cover as a civilian walks by and then collapses. As the gunman advances to the officer’s position, both appear to discharge their firearms and the officer escapes. The gunman collapses shortly after, under fire from police.

Dagher said one police officer was in critical condition after the shooting but was in stable condition hours later.

Mizrahi has been identified as a member of the Jewish community. The Israeli consulate issued a message of condolences to the family, saying it “knows all too well the horrors of terror and violence, making this tragic loss even more painful.”

Manifesto

Hatfield left behind a 103-page manifesto laden with Marxist concepts and anti-Semitic rhetoric. “The influence of Zionist Jews upon the western bourgeoisie is in fact so strong that in my other works I sometimes refer to the western ruling class itself as the Judaeo-bourgeois class,” Hatfield writes in the manifesto obtained by Rebel News.

Hatfield cites capitalism as the culprit for creating what he calls “hypergamy,” a phenomenon in which he says “females simply copulate as they please with a plethora of attractive males, as opposed to monogamy.” This theme echoes grievances from the “incel” movement, referring to “involuntary celibates.” Individuals linked to the movement have been involved in other violent attacks, including the 2018 Toronto van attack that killed 10 people.

Hatfield’s manifesto outlined a long list of “class A” targets, including major financial and real estate headquarters, “elite” bankers and politicians from both the “‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’” sides, military figures, and “influential Zionists.”

The document also cited headquarters of international pornography companies as targets.

International pornography company Aylo, which owns PornHub, is headquartered in the building across from the Hilton Hotel from where the 911 call was placed. Footage from the attack on social media shows windows in that building were broken on the fifth floor.

Aylo issued a statement following the shooting, saying it is aware of media reports suggesting a potential link with Aylo and Pornhub. “The investigation is under way, we won’t speculate on the motives nor communicate unconfirmed information,” the company said.

Aylo also offered condolences to the victims and thanked first responders for ensuring none of their employees were physically injured.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.