Feijhoo-Leito Joseph, a 19-year-old resident of Vaudreuil, was arrested Feb. 19 and appeared in court later that day. He was charged with vehicle theft, possession of stolen property, and recklessly discharging a firearm at a location knowing that a person might be inside.
He is the second suspect arrested connection to the shooting at a Jewish school on Nov. 12, 2023.
Early that morning, Yeshiva Gedola Montreal—located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges—was hit with bullets. Gunshots were heard, and a suspect was reportedly seen shooting at the school before fleeing in a vehicle. Police officers discovered bullet holes on the school door, and shell casings on the ground.
The school was empty at the time and no injuries were reported.
The first suspect, Abdirazak Mahdi Ahmed, 21, of Les Cèdres, also west of Montreal, was arrested in May. He faces charges of discharging a firearm at a location knowing that a person might be inside, theft and receiving stolen vehicles. He has remained in custody. Investigators had reason to believe one or more other individuals were involved.
Federation CJA and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) issued a joint statement Wednesday, noting the second alleged perpetrator “faces charges of discharging a firearm and vehicle theft, with aggravating hate factors.” (The charge sheet does not include any hate-related offences.)
— Federation CJA (@FederationCJA) February 19, 2025
At the time, it was the second shooting at the school in four days. The first suspect was also charged with theft and receiving stolen vehicles and committing mischief on Nov. 9, 2023 when shots were fired at Yeshiva Gedola as well as the Talmud Torah Elementary School a few kilometres away in the same borough.
A week earlier, Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Beth Tikvah synagogue and Federation CJA satellite office in the city’s west island suburb of Dollard—and firebombed a second time on Dec. 18, 2024.
There were no injuries in any of those incidents and no arrests were made, but the shootings and firebombing were part of a series of attacks on Jewish institutions in Montreal weeks after the Hamas terrorist slaughter in Israel that saw 1,200 people murdered and 251 people kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
