By Canadian Press

Psychiatrist shortage denounced in aftermath of Quebec killing spree, coroner hears

Oct 5, 2023 | 10:48 AM

MONTREAL — A Quebec doctor denounced to local health officials the severe lack of psychiatrists in a Montreal suburb, shortly after three men were gunned down by a man with mental health issues in August 2022.

Psychiatrist Simon Roussel testified today in a coroner’s inquest into the shooting deaths of André Lemieux, Mohamed Belhaj and Alex Levis-Crevier, and into the police killing of the suspect, Abdulla Shaikh.

Roussel told the inquest that he wrote a letter on Aug. 4, 2022, about the random killings, which he said revealed that patients in the Montreal suburb of Laval couldn’t be properly monitored because of a psychiatrist shortage.

Shaikh, 26, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had previously been hospitalized in Laval, where he murdered Levis-Crevier on Aug. 3, 2022, when the 22-year-old was skateboarding on the street.

The day before in Montreal, Shaikh shot and killed Lemieux and Belhaj, who were both outside.

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Roussel says he never received a reply to his letter, other than an indirect comment that he had bypassed the hierarchy by writing to health authorities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2023.

The Canadian Press