Man gets 5.5 years for 2023 shots at Montreal Jewish school

A Montreal man who pleaded guilty to firing a gun at a Jewish school in 2023 has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison, the Quebec Crown prosecutor’s office said this week.

Abdirazak Mahdi Ahmed, 23, will also serve three years of probation and is barred from possessing firearms, the prosecutor’s office said. It said he has about 18 months left to serve once the time he has spent in custody since his arrest in 2024 is counted.

The sentence is 66 months. JNS, which covered the hearing, reported that Ahmed was sentenced Monday and that the prosecution and defence jointly recommended the term. It reported that he pleaded guilty in September to discharging a firearm recklessly.

The shots hit the Yeshiva Gedola school at about 5 a.m. on Nov. 12, 2023, three years ago today. Montreal police said at the time that bullet casings were found on the ground. Nobody was inside the building and nobody was hurt, according to JNS.

The shooting was one of a string of attacks that appeared to target Jewish institutions in Montreal that month. JNS reported that prosecutors said there was no evidence connecting Ahmed to the earlier shootings or to other attacks on Jewish institutions.

B’nai Brith Canada’s Richard Robertson told JNS the sentence sends a strong message that there will be zero tolerance for those who target vulnerable communities.

Court sentences in Montreal have been in the news in recent days. Earlier this week, a man who used a fake passport 16 times was given two years.

Sources: The Canadian Press; JNS (Nov. 9, 2026).

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