Guilty Plea in second Yeshiva Gedola Shooting, Earlier School Shootings Remain Unsolved

By Joseph Marshall

Abdirazak Mahdi Ahmed has pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm in connection with the November 12, 2023 shooting at Yeshiva Gedola Merkaz Hatorah in Montreal. Ahmed, now 23, entered the plea Wednesday at the Montreal courthouse. He has been in custody since his arrest in May 2024. The Crown and defence are expected to jointly recommend a sentence of five and a half years in prison, less credit for time already served, when he returns to court for sentencing in October.

The charge relates to the second time Yeshiva Gedola was targeted by gunfire in four days. The school had also been struck by bullets on November 9, the same night that Azrieli Talmud Torah was shot. Ahmed has not been publicly charged with either of the November 9 shootings.

The November 12 attack took place shortly before 5 a.m. at Yeshiva Gedola on Deacon Road. Several shots were fired toward the school’s main entrance. Police found bullet damage and shell casings at the scene. No students or staff members were inside and nobody was injured. A witness saw a person with a handgun near the school before the suspect fled in an Acura RDX. The vehicle had been stolen the previous day in Vaudreuil Dorion.

Police recovered the SUV several hours after the shooting in Lachine. Investigators found two projectiles, a balaclava, a surgical mask and latex gloves inside. Ahmed’s DNA was found on several items in the vehicle and cellphone evidence placed him in the area of the school. Police also used an undercover officer after Ahmed was arrested. The officer was placed in the same cell as Ahmed, where Ahmed made statements that investigators used as evidence of his involvement in the shooting. The agreed facts presented in court did not specify whether Ahmed personally fired the gun, drove the stolen vehicle or played another role in the attack. He pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm.

Ahmed was arrested in LaSalle on May 22, 2024, about six months after the shooting. He was originally charged with discharging a firearm as well as offences connected to stolen vehicles. Montreal police said at the time that the arrest was connected specifically to the November 12 shooting at Yeshiva Gedola and that investigators believed other people may have been involved. A second suspect, Feijhoo Leito Joseph, was arrested on February 19, 2025. Joseph, who was 19 at the time, was also charged in connection with the November 12 attack. Police described him as the second suspect identified in the same investigation. There has been no public indication that Joseph’s case has been concluded.

Members of Montreal’s Jewish community are expected to make representations at Ahmed’s sentencing. CIJA senior Quebec vice president Eta Yudin said the sentence should reflect the seriousness of the attack and send a message to those who target the Jewish community. The attack was widely described by Jewish community leaders as terrorism when it occurred. Ahmed was not prosecuted under terrorism provisions of the Criminal Code and pleaded guilty to the firearm offence.

Yeshiva Gedola had already been shot three days before the attack for which Ahmed has now pleaded guilty.

On the morning of November 9, 2023, workers arriving at Azrieli Talmud Torah on St. Kevin Avenue discovered bullet damage to the building. Police found shell casings at the scene. About half an hour later, police were called to Yeshiva Gedola after bullet damage was discovered on its building on Deacon Road. Investigators believed both shootings had taken place overnight. Nobody was inside either school when the gunfire occurred. Police did not announce that the same person was responsible for both November 9 shootings.

The attacks came as Montreal Jewish institutions were facing a series of threats and violent incidents following the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel. A Molotov cocktail had been thrown at Beth Tikvah synagogue in Dollard des Ormeaux days earlier, and police increased their presence around Jewish schools, synagogues and community buildings.

Then Montreal mayor Valérie Plante condemned the shootings. Then Quebec premier François Legault also condemned the attacks, while then education minister Bernard Drainville described the shootings as terrorism.

Yeshiva Gedola was targeted again before dawn on November 12. Following that shooting, representatives of the school publicly called the attack terrorism. Police continued the investigation for several months before Ahmed was arrested.

Some confusion surrounding the case came from the charges originally filed against Ahmed. Early court reporting indicated that he also faced a mischief charge dated November 9. His firearm charge was dated November 12, and Montreal police repeatedly identified his arrest as being connected to the November 12 Yeshiva Gedola shooting. When Joseph was arrested in 2025, police again identified November 12 as the date of the shooting under investigation and described Joseph as the second suspect in that case.

There has been no police announcement linking Ahmed to the November 9 gunfire at Yeshiva Gedola or Talmud Torah. There has also been no announcement identifying anyone else as having been charged with shooting either school on November 9.

Ahmed will return to court in October for sentencing in the November 12 attack. The November 9 shootings at Yeshiva Gedola and Talmud Torah remain unsolved.