Police in Montreal are investigating whether the operators of Pornhub were a target in the shootout Monday that left a police officer and a bystander dead, a national-security source told The Globe and Mail.
The gunfight between police and a rifle-wielding suspect in tactical gear took place in front of a building that houses, among other tenants, the offices of the adult-content distributor Aylo, which operates Pornhub.
The national-security source said a manifesto circulating online is the same one that police have tied to the shooter. The lengthy document covers a range of grievances, including resentment toward the pornography industry.
The Globe is not identifying the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
Police were called to the scene near the Décarie Expressway on Monday morning when someone reported seeing a gun barrel pointing out of a window of a hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn Montreal Midtown.
Photos taken at the scene show shattered windows on an upper floor of the building facing the Hilton.
Another source with knowledge of the investigation said the broken windows were located in the Aylo offices. The source said no employees were physically injured and staff were no longer working out of the space. The Globe agreed not to name the source, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the case.
In a statement, Aylo expressed condolences to the families of the victims of the shooting. The company declined to comment on whether it had been targeted.
The manifesto was first shared online by Rebel News on Tuesday. The document expresses various grievances and complains that “common males” debase themselves watching pornography because they aren’t successful with women. It also contains passages that are antisemitic, anti-capitalist and that encourage violence against police and others.
Three people – 68-year-old bystander Michel Mizrahi, Montreal police Constable Mohamed Lamine Benredouane and the gunman – were fatally shot during the firefight, while a female officer was seriously wounded.
The suspect was identified Tuesday as Seth Scott Hatfield, 25, from Lethbridge, Alta. The University of Lethbridge confirmed that he was a student there.
Mr. Hatfield graduated from Lethbridge’s Catholic Central High School in 2019, according to copy of that year’s graduation program available online. He was an “anti-school type,” more interested in shop, machines, and trades than traditional academics, according to classmate Zachary Connick.
Mr. Connick remembers Mr. Hatfield believing in “male superiority” and “alpha male type” ideas. He also viewed men and women as “objects to be used,” Mr. Connick said.
Numerous townhouses near the university campus were evacuated on Tuesday morning and a large perimeter surrounding them restricted public access to the buildings throughout the day. Lethbridge police’s explosive-disposal unit and tactical unit were part of the police presence in the residential neighbourhood in the city’s west end, and their vehicles remained there as of late Tuesday afternoon.
Lethbridge Police Service, in a statement Tuesday, confirmed they conducted a “high-risk search” at a home near the university campus.
Quebec’s provincial police said they had asked the Lethbridge police to execute a search warrant on the suspect’s home.
“The shooter’s dead, but we still have to understand how come he came to Quebec, why and everything that surrounds this event,” a Sûreté du Québec spokesperson, Sergeant Louis-Philippe Ruel, said in a phone interview.
The Sûreté are involved because the Montreal police are also being investigated for their use of force in Monday’s shootout.
Videos of the gunfight appear to show that Mr. Mizrahi, the civilian victim, was shot accidentally by an officer, though investigators haven’t commented on the circumstances of his death.
People who knew Mr. Mizrahi remembered him as a generous, kind-hearted man. They also expressed concern about the way his remains were handled.
Moshe Blech, a volunteer for the Israeli emergency response organization ZAKA in Montreal, assisted the Mizrahi family amidst the chaos Monday. He said the family was left in the dark during the aftermath of the shooting. Mr. Mizrahi’s son went frantically from hospital to hospital trying to find his father, Mr. Blech said.
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Montreal police officer Mohamed Lamine Benredouane is shown in this social media posting provided by the Montreal Police department. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout-Montreal Police Department (Mandatory Credit)HO/The Canadian Press
Adding to the family’s distress was the fact that, even after the death was confirmed, Mr. Mizrahi’s body was left at the crime scene overnight, Mr. Blech said.
Rabbi Chaim Shlomo Cohen, who leads a Jewish community centre adjacent to the crime scene, said that he too saw Mr. Mizrahi’s body Tuesday morning.
The 68-year-old’s body is being prepared for a Montreal funeral Wednesday before being flown to Israel for burial.
Constable Benredouane was raised in Côte-des-Neiges, the diverse district where the shooting took place. “He went to school in the neighbourhood, he knew the residents,” said Stéphanie Valenzuela, the local borough mayor.
“When you have someone that grew up in the neighbourhood, decided to serve his community in a way that he did, by ultimately losing his life, it was an act of heroism that I can’t highlight further,” she told reporters on Tuesday.
Constable Benredouane had a three-year-old child and a partner who is pregnant, according to an online fundraiser launched Tuesday by a friend of his.
“Behind the uniform was an exceptional man: a dedicated police officer, a loyal friend, a loving partner, and an extraordinary father,” the fundraiser web page says. “All of Quebec is mourning the loss of an exemplary police officer who dedicated his life to protecting others.”
Those who knew Mr. Mizrahi, who owned a Montreal boutique specializing in men’s suits, described him as a fixture in his community.
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Michel Mizrahi in a photo provided by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.The Canadian Press
He ran Le Suit Lounge menswear store nearby with his son, one of three children. His two daughters live in Israel, where Mr. Mizrahi also resided for a time before immigrating to Canada.
Mr. Mizrahi was a humble person who served others, Mr. Cohen said. “Very kind, very gentle, always connected to the community.”
Rabbi Mendel Raskin, director of the Beth Chabad Côte Saint-Luc, described Mr. Mizrahi as generous and willing to give suits to those who couldn’t afford them.
Mr. Mizrahi had been a member of the congregation since it started in 1989, and would take people out to restaurants or for coffee and cover the bill, Mr. Raskin said: “We should learn from him. He was the man that everybody loves to be around.”
He described Mr. Mizrahi as having a contagious smile and a heart of gold. “To think, what can I do to help another person? This is Michel Mizrahi,” he said.
Paola Samuel, regional director for Quebec and Atlantic Canada with B’nai Brith Canada, said people would stop by Mr. Mizrahi’s shop just to see him. She said people in the community are remembering him as “a lovely guy” who was quick to smile and always ready to stop for a chat.
“You just wanted to be around him,” she said.
With reports from Matthew Frank, Colin Freeze, Mike Hager and Carrie Tait