Terrorist who shot at Montreal Jewish school sentenced to 66 months in prison for 2023 attack

A Quebec court sentenced Abdirazak Mahdi Ahmed, 23, to 66 months in prison on Monday, nearly three years after he was involved in a shooting at the entrance of Yeshiva Gedola, a Jewish school in Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, approximately one month after the October 7, 2023, massacre.

The sentence followed Ahmed's guilty plea in September and matched a joint recommendation submitted by the prosecution and defense.

"A person who commits this kind of an attack on schools is, in the eyes of this court, a coward," Quebec Court Judge Pierre Labelle said during sentencing.

The shooting occurred on 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 yeshiva in a stolen vehicle, and Ahmed fired a 9 mm handgun toward one of the building's doors.

He then entered the passenger seat of the moving vehicle, and the two fled the scene.

Police responding to the shooting discovered bullet holes in the entrance door and spent shell casings on the ground. The building was unoccupied at the time, and no injuries were reported.

DNA, cellphone records and undercover officer linked suspect to shooting

Canadian media reported that the getaway vehicle, an Acura, had been stolen the previous day.

Police located the abandoned vehicle several hours after the shooting and recovered ammunition, a ski mask, a surgical mask and latex gloves.

Investigators discovered Ahmed's DNA on items recovered from the vehicle, while 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 also helped connect him to the shooting.

Montreal police arrested Ahmed on May 22, 2024, in the city's LaSalle borough, approximately six months after the incident.

He has remained in custody since his arrest and pleaded guilty in September 2026 to one count of discharging a firearm.

His 66-month sentence includes credit for time already served.

Prosecutors say antisemitic motive could not be established

During the hearing at which Ahmed entered his guilty plea, investigators said they had been unable to establish that the shooting was motivated by antisemitism.

Prosecutors also stated that there was no evidence linking Ahmed to two separate shootings that occurred three days earlier, on November 9, 2023, targeting 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, Joseph Pageau-Layto, 21, of Vaudreuil, in February 2025.

The charge against him relating directly to the shooting was subsequently dropped. However, prosecutor Jean-Christophe Ardanos said Pageau-Layto still faces charges connected to the stolen vehicle used in the attack.

According to court records, Pageau-Layto intends to plead guilty to the remaining charge later.