Quebec coroner hears from grieving families; concern over gunman's medication change
CTV
The older brother of a mentally ill man who killed three people at random during a 24-hour shooting spree in the Montreal area last year told a coroner Wednesday he questions why his medication regime had been changed before the killings.
The older brother of a mentally ill man who killed three people at random during a 24-hour shooting spree in the Montreal area last year told a coroner Wednesday he questions why his medication regime had been changed before the killings.
Sakir Shaikh said that Abdulla Shaikh's mental health problems first arose in 2018 and resurfaced two years later, leading to two lengthy stays in hospital. But Sakir said Wednesday he questions why the hospital adjusted his brother's medication from monthly injections to every three months, noting the next injection was scheduled for a few days after he was killed by police. He did not specify what the medication was.
Coroner Géhane Kamel is presiding over the inquiry into the August 2022 murders of André Lemieux, 64, Mohamed Belhaj, 48, and Alex Lévis Crevier, 22, as well as the death of Abdulla Shaikh, 26, who was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police at a Montreal motel. He had two ghost guns — homemade artisanal weapons — in his possession.
The inquiry heard previously that Abdulla Shaikh's family said he was not taking his medication as prescribed.
"Losing my brother and knowing he had committed three murders was something," Sakir Shaikh told the coroner.
Sakir also said he hopes the coroner looks at making it easier to get help from police. He said that in 2020 he asked Montreal police to intervene after his brother's schizophrenia symptoms resurfaced and he feared he presented a danger. But he said police told him they could not arrest Abdulla or seize his vehicle because no crime had been committed.
"When his brother tells you he's not doing well and you know his mental health background, you need to take a little step to help," Sakir Shaikh testified.
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