Three people were killed in a shooting attack in Côte-des-Neiges, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Montreal, Canada. A civilian, a police officer and the suspect were confirmed dead by Montreal police, while one other police officer was seriously injured but in stable condition.

Police urged residents to shelter in place, lock their doors and avoid the area as they responded to the incident and searched the area for additional suspects. In a press conference, Fady Dagher, Montreal’s police chief, said that the motive was still under investigation. He said they had determined there had only been one suspect who shot at them and he had been neutralized.

Tzipi Zeigerman, an Israeli who moved to the neighborhood two years ago, told Jewish Insider she was home when the attack began around noon, and from her window “noticed people running and screaming ‘active shooting.’”

“I heard tons of police cars and helicopters,” said Zeigerman, adding that as of Monday afternoon the streets were still closed and all businesses and schools in the area, including several Jewish institutions, remained on lockdown.

“It’s a tragic moment, it’s a real nightmare, knowing that you get engaged … to protect and serve, and get killed — it’s a dramatic moment for me as a chief, for my troops,” Dagher said, noting that he had visited the troops in hospital. “When we become a police officer, we become a police officer knowing the risk — we never expect this to happen.”

Côte-des-Neiges is home to several historically significant synagogues, including the The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, the oldest Jewish congregation in Canada, dating back to 1760. 

The shooting comes amid a wave of targeted antisemitic attacks in Canada, which have led local Jewish leaders to raise the alarm on the country’s failure to properly protect the community. The Canadian government eliminated the standalone role of national antisemitism envoy in February. 

Three synagogues in the Toronto area were shot at in early March in a span of five days, amid an escalated threat environment as Canada has experienced some of the most severe manifestations of the global surge in antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks — with higher rates of antisemitic incidents than other countries but lower conviction rates. In another recent incident, Canadian law enforcement arrested three Toronto-area men accused of planning violent kidnappings targeting women and members of the Jewish community. Irwin Cotler, Canada’s former justice minister, told JI in April that if the issue is not addressed quickly, there’s “a ticking bomb here in Canada for what will be the Bondi massacre occurring in Canada,” a reference to the December 2025 mass shooting at a Hanukkah gathering at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, that killed 15 people. 

Still, Zeigerman, who said she moved to Canada from Israel to seek a safer life, “felt very safe here — until now.”

The 2025 Aspen Security Forum kicks off today and finds itself unexpectedly thrust into the ideological fights gripping the administration.

The Defense Department announced Monday that it would be withdrawing numerous senior military and civilian officials who had been set to speak at the conference.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told Jewish Insider: “Senior Department of Defense officials will no longer be participating at the Aspen Security Forum because their values do not align with the values of the DoD. The Department will remain strong in its focus to increase the lethality of our warfighters, revitalize the warrior ethos, and project ‘Peace Through Strength’ on the world stage. It is clear the ASF is not in alignment with these goals.” Spokesperson Kinglsey Wilson offered even more pointed criticism to right-leaning outlet Just the News, saying the conference “promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States.”

It’s tough criticism of a forum that prides itself on bipartisanship and aims to foster cross-partisan dialogue and solution-making, even as those attributes are in short supply in today’s Washington. The forum said in a statement, “we will miss the participation of the Pentagon, but our invitations remain open. … The Aspen Security Forum remains committed to providing a platform for informed, non-partisan debate about the most important security challenges facing the world,” noting that voices across the political spectrum will be speaking this week.

Many had been hoping to hear Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who was originally scheduled for a panel discussing the evolution of warfare, speak about his agency’s leaked report suggesting the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities had minimal effects, but Kruse was among the speakers withdrawn by the Pentagon.

Among the administration speakers still scheduled to appear are hostage envoy Adam Boehler, speaking on Thursday, and Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria. Barrack will be speaking on a Friday panel about the Middle East alongside former CIA Director David Petraeus and former Deputy National Security Advisor Dina Powell McCormick.

Wednesday’s Israel-focused panel will feature former IDF Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog, former Biden administration official Brett McGurk and author and “Call Me Back” podcast host Dan Senor. 

An Iran-focused panel on Thursday will include former U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, former CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Rachel Bronson and Johns Hopkins professor Vali Nasr.

There’s likely to be plenty of discussion throughout the week about the ways the Trump administration’s strikes on Iran will shape policy in the Middle East — and throughout the world — going forward, and about the ongoing impacts of the war in Gaza.

Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will be speaking on Friday on a panel with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson will also be speaking Friday, on AI and cybersecurity issues, respectively. Former Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo will speak on Thursday about international aid and trade.

Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Mark Warner (D-VA) will lead the conference’s annual “View from the Senate” panel on Friday.

We’ll be keeping an ear out for discussion about the internal debates between hawks and isolationists taking place within the Trump administration over America’s role and engagement in key global arenas — from the Middle East to Ukraine and Asia. We’ll also be tracking  proposed efforts to restructure the U.S. intelligence community.

Expect a significant focus throughout the week on the many ways that the Trump administration’s unpredictable foreign policy — from its recommitment to providing Ukraine military aid to the status of tariffs against key countries, along with the recent, sweeping cuts to the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development — is shaking up global affairs, how the private sector and foreign countries are adapting and how leaders can attempt to maintain bipartisanship on foreign policy.