Family caught in police shootout announces lawsuit against Montreal police, city

MONTREAL — A family that was caught in a shootout between Montreal police and an armed suspect last year is suing the city and members of the police force, alleging inhumane treatment that caused lasting trauma.

Houssam Abdallah and his family members say they’ve been living a nightmare since he and one of his sons were caught in crossfire outside their home one year ago.

In a civil lawsuit filed Monday in Quebec Superior Court, they allege the police officers at the scene were negligent and reckless. Abdallah was shot six times during the shootout and is now permanently disabled, while his 18-year-old son, Abdel-Rahman, was shot once in the back.

“I felt like I was floating in a cloud of pain,” Abdallah told reporters during a press conference Monday morning. “Would I live or die? That’s the question that came to my mind as I watched life fade away before my eyes. … My hope of survival diminished with every minute that passed.”

Tearfully, he said it was the voice of his son, lying next to him and begging him not to die, that kept him fighting to live.

The family is seeking nearly $6.5 million in damages from the city and the police officers involved.

The City of Montreal and the police force declined to comment on the case in light of the legal action.

The shootout occurred on Aug. 4, 2024 in the Montreal suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que. According to the lawsuit, several members of the Abdallah family had returned from a camping trip and were unloading their car when they were caught in the middle of a police foot chase.

The armed suspect, 26-year-old Nackeal Hickey, allegedly attempted to steal Abdallah’s car before firing on the police officers, who opened fire in return. The lawsuit says about 40 shots were fired.

Abdallah, aged 52 at the time, tried to shield his children and was shot in the arm, shoulder, leg, hip and at the base of his spine before falling to the ground. Another bullet struck Abdel-Rahman two millimetres from his spinal column, the lawsuit says.

After the shootout, the two men were left on the ground without medical attention for nearly an hour, and were eventually arrested and handcuffed “without explanation or justification,” lawyer Virginie Dufresne-Lemire told reporters.

Abdallah’s handcuffs were only removed in the ambulance at the insistence of paramedics, she said.

Following the shootout, Abdallah was hospitalized for 35 days, and continues to receive daily medical care, according to the lawsuit. He can now walk with the assistance of a walker, but requires help to eat, move around and maintain his personal hygiene. He now lives with a “persistent feeling of humiliation, sadness and discouragement,” the lawsuit says.

Abdallah can no longer work, and much of his care is now provided by his wife, said Imane Melab, another lawyer for the family.

“As for the children, they now bear a burden that is not theirs to carry, taking on parental responsibilities that no child should have to assume,” she said.

The lawsuit claims the couple and all four of their children have been traumatized by the incident, which upended their daily lives. “I still struggle to find the right words to describe the past year: horrifying, terrifying, traumatizing, demoralizing, heartbreaking, confusing, scary, angering, stressful,” Abdallah’s adult daughter, Jana, told reporters.

The youngest child, who was just nine years old when he witnessed the shooting, lives in a state of constant anxiety and is unable to fall asleep alone, the lawsuit says.

The family alleges the police officers used excessive force during the shootout and failed to take basic precautions to ensure the safety of civilians. The lawsuit also claims police violated the family’s fundamental rights, including by handcuffing Abdallah and his son after they had been shot.

Dufresne-Lemire said it’s likely the bullets that struck the two men were fired by police officers. Prosecutors filed 15 charges against Hickey, including four counts of attempted murder, but the lawsuit notes he was not charged in relation to the shooting of Abdallah or his son.

However, Quebec’s Crown prosecution office announced in June it would not lay charges against Montreal police officers in the case, following an investigation by the province’s police watchdog.

The family has received no information about the case from the Montreal police or the police watchdog, Dufresne-Lemire said.

Mostafa Mamdouh, a friend and former neighbour of Abdallah’s, said he believes the fact that the neighbourhood has a large immigrant population played a role in how police responded to the situation. Abdallah is of Lebanese origin.

“If this happened in another city … with rich people, would the police do the same? Would they shoot everybody like this?” he said. “I am sure, 100 per cent, the answer is no.”

Mamdouh said Abdallah was able to visit him at his home for the first time since the accident in the last few weeks, but said he’s been “fractured” by the trauma.

“When we came to Canada, we thought that Canada is a country with respect,” he said. “But this … could happen to any one of us. Who will guarantee this will not happen to me now? To any one of us now?”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2025.

Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press