‘Didn’t deserve it’: Sister of Laval man randomly shot dead last year testifies in public coroner’s inquiry

Emotional testimony at the Montreal courthouse Wednesday on the third day of a public coroner’s inquiry into the random murders of three people in the span of 24 hours in the Montreal area last year. 

“It hurts, it makes me realize even more that I have to accept something that I’m not ready to accept, even after a year,” says Roxanne Lévis-Crevier, sister of 22-year-old Alex Lévis-Crevier. He was shot dead while he was longboarding at the corner of 1re Rue and Clermont Boul. in Laval-des-Rapides on Aug. 3, 2022.

She told a coroner she lives with a tremendous amount of grief over the loss.

“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said. “But he didn’t deserve an end of his life as drastic as that, especially since my brother wasn’t a bad person.”

He lived just three blocks from her home in Laval, Que., and was a frequent presence at her apartment and a popular uncle to her three children.

“All he did was live his life, he came to see me every day, to see my children too,” he said. “My oldest sometimes makes references to the sky, when he sees a shining star he says it’s Alex. As much as I know there are signs everywhere, I still really miss his physical contact one year later.”

During the hearing, Roxanne spoke about her brother, saying he someone that wasn’t aggressive and who was calm on the day he died.

“He liked motorcycles, Sons of Anarchy but there was a tender heart behind his tough exterior,” she said outside the courtroom.

Alex was the last of the random murders in the spree. 64-year-old André Lemieux and 48-year-old Mohamed Salah Belhaj were both killed the day before him on Montreal streets at the hands of Abdulla Shaikh.

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Roxanne said she learned of the incident on her street through Facebook while at a friend’s house and texted her brother about it, but didn’t hear back.

It was only in a middle-of-the night phone call from her father that she learned her brother was the victim.

“It brings me back to the moment that I found out, and seeing the crime scene,” she said through tears.

Shaikh had visited the Toronto Zoo amid the killing spree before checking into a motel in Montreal’s Saint-Laurent. He was then shot dead by police on the morning of Aug. 4, after exchanging gunfire.

Months before he was killed, an administrative tribunal decided Shaikh could continue living outside a mental-health institution, even though in 2021 he represented “a significant risk to public safety due to his mental state,” as he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

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Suspect who allegedly killed 3 in Montreal area represented ‘significant risk’ to public safety

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Roxanne’s family wants answers.

“Despite the risk he was to society, why did the that? What did they base it on?” she asked. “These are the questions that I would like to have answers to.”

Coroner Géhane Kamel is presiding over the inquiry, which is also investigating Shaikh’s death.

Hearings will continue over the next two weeks. 

“I am looking forward to the the investigation ending so that we can close this chapter, so that we can then mourn with complete peace of mind. I feel like I’m so desperate for answers that I’m not grieving peacefully.”

– With files from The Canadian Press