Montreal shooting leaves officer, civilian and suspect dead

A police officer was shot dead in Montreal on Monday, marking the first time a local officer was killed in the line of duty in nearly a quarter of a century, while a civilian was also killed and another officer was injured.

The male suspect was shot and killed right away, Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher said. He is believed to have acted alone.

The shooting began around noon in a busy part of the city, Côte-des-Neiges, which historically has had a large Jewish population. A witness saw a gun sticking out of a window, heard shots, and called police, Dagher said.

"For now, we don't really know what the motive of this individual was," Ian Lafrenière, Quebec's domestic security minister, said.

Becoming emotional during a press conference, Dagher told reporters: "It's a nightmare."

The death of the yet-to-be-named officer, marks the first time in 24 years that a Montreal police officer was killed while on duty, he said.

The injured officer was taken to hospital.

The shooting began after 11:30 EDT (15:30 GMT) in Côte-des-Neiges, the most populated neighbourhood in Montreal.

Traffic in a nearby busy motorway was brought to a stop and local metro service was halted.

Just after 12:30 EDT, the province of Quebec issued an emergency alert warning residents of a armed suspect on the loose. The alert was lifted around 15:00 EDT as reporters were hearing from the police chief.

Police believe the suspect used a long-range gun.

"My deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the police officer who died in the line of duty," Soraya Martinez Ferrada, the mayor of Montreal, said in a social media post.

Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette echoed those sentiments in a social media post adding that "such acts have no place here".