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A 68-year-old man who died Monday during a shooting in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood is being remembered by family and friends as someone who was always “giving and smiling.”
Shlomi Mizrahi said his father, Michel Mizrahi, was his “best friend.”
“He was the most positive person. He always put other people before himself. And was always ready to help anyone in need,” he told the crowd at his father’s funeral service on Wednesday.
Mizrahi was caught in the crossfire when a shooting erupted outside a hotel on Monday. His friends say he was on his way to meet his son for coffee when he stopped to help others get to safety.
“He died a hero because that’s who he was,” Shlomi Mizrahi said.
Hundreds of people gathered inside and outside a funeral home on Jean Talon Street West to honour Mizrahi, who was born and raised in Lebanon and had spent more than 40 years in Montreal.
Montreal police Const. Mohamed Lamine Benredouane also died in the shooting. Another officer was injured.
The alleged shooter, 25-year-old Seth Scott Hatfield from Lethbridge, Alta., also died.
Alain Pereque, who had known Mizrahi since they were kids together in Beirut, said they were “inseparable.”
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Pereque told reporters gathered outside the funeral home that he moved to Canada in the 1970s, and that when Mizrahi came to the country to attend his wedding, he never moved back to Lebanon.
“It’s like an emotional roller-coaster,” he said, talking about how he felt the day of his friend’s death. “It’s not normal.”
Rabbi Mendel Raskin, director of Beth Chabad, told Global News that Mizrahi was a fixture in the congregation and throughout the Côte Saint-Luc community.
“It’s very hard, very hard,” Raskin said.
Mizrahi, a father of three and a grandfather, was also a businessman who sold men’s suits for several decades.
“He was selling suits, and when somebody didn’t have money, he would give them (it) for free. He was always giving, giving and smiling. Everybody loved him,” Raskin said.
Rev. Daniel Benlolo, from the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal, said Mizrahi’s heroism was evident through his choice to guide others to safety.
“He stayed and he asked other people to run away, to escape, to find refuge,” he said. “He could have just laid down like we’re taught … he paid the full price for it, unfortunately.”
Liel Navi was one of those people. She was walking down the street heading to a restaurant when she heard the gunshots.
“We were very lucky,” she added, saying Mizrahi saved her life.
A private funeral service for Benredouane will take place Wednesday afternoon.
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