MONTREAL — Three months after 15-year-old high school student Nooran Rezayi was gunned down by a Longueuil cop, no criminal charges have been laid and the name of the cop put on administrative leave has still not been revealed. Rezayi’s family, immigrants from Afghanistan, says the Bureau of Independent Inquiries has left them in the dark about its investigation. The Longueuil mayor has also called for an inquiry into how the police handled the shooting after it happened.
The family and their supporters held a press conference Dec. 9, announcing they are suing Longueuil city authorities and the police for 2.2 million Canadian dollars ($1.6 million) for using “unreasonable and disproportionate force.”
The killing outraged people in the local community and beyond. Hundreds attended Nooran’s funeral, including many of his schoolmates. Over 1,000 people demonstrated Sept. 27 calling for “Justice for Nooran.”
The Rezayis and their lawyers released a revealing YouTube video taken by a neighbor’s outdoor security camera showing the 11 seconds between the cops’ car coming around the corner and Nooran being shot.
It shows Nooran and four of his friends sitting on the curb in the residential area where he lived looking at their phones. Suddenly, without warning, a squad car turns the corner. The young people start to run. Nooran stops to pick up his backpack.
A cop can be heard yelling three times, “Get down on the ground.” Three seconds later two shots are heard.
The cops claim they were responding to a 911 call reporting a gang of young people with firearms in the area. Nooran had no weapon, only his backpack containing his schoolbooks and other necessities.
Even though Nooran’s family lives only 10 minutes from the spot where he died, and the youth was immediately identified by a friend, it took five and a half hours before the police notified the family of his death.
“We want justice. We want this officer to be punished and the police department to take responsibility. This must never happen again,” Nooran’s mother, Fahim Rezayi, told the media.
On Dec. 11 Longueuil Mayor Catherine Fournier announced she is asking the Quebec public security minister to investigate the Longueuil chief of police and police force for not following proper protocol and regulations after the killing of Nooran.
But there is no reason for working people to have any confidence in the objectivity of the Bureau of Independent Inquiries, the cops or the public security minister.
The Bureau of Independent Inquiries is a police agency, and 50% of its investigators are former cops. It reports to Quebec’s minister of public safety. In its nine-year history only two of the 450 investigations it’s held have led to criminal charges being filed against police. In the 52 investigations it conducted into cases where police fatally shot someone, zero charges resulted. Nooran is the fourth person who died at the hands of Quebec cops this year.
“It seems there was a real intent of trying to cover tracks,” said Fernando Betlon, one of the Nooran family lawyers.
“Asking the minister of public security to investigate changes nothing,” Joe Young, the Communist League candidate in the October 2026 Quebec general election, told the Militant. “As one sign at the September protest said, ‘No to the police investigating the police.’ Their job is to ‘service and protect’ the ruling rich.
“We need to mobilize our unions, churches, mosques, synagogues and community organizations to collaborate with Nooran’s family to fight to bring those responsible for the death of Nooran Rezayi to justice,” Young said.