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Mustapha Ouahdi had hoped his son Hani could be the final younger Montrealer to die by violence, however because the disaster continues, he says, “nothing has been accomplished.” He is urging authorities to seek out options.
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Within the days following his son’s demise in late 2021, Mustapha Ouahdi, nonetheless overwhelmed and in shock, felt he wanted to say one thing in regards to the variety of younger individuals dying from violence in Montreal.
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Ouahdi’s 20-year-old son, Hani, was shot whereas sitting in a automobile within the metropolis’s Anjou neighbourhood. He turned the thirty second individual killed in Montreal that 12 months, together with a number of teenagers and younger males of their early 20s.
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As buddies and members of the Algerian group gathered outdoors Ouahdi’s house, huddling below his automobile shelter within the bitter chilly, the grief-stricken father tried to ship a message.
“Three days after my son’s demise — after burying him — I stated I hoped he could be the final younger individual to die to this,” Ouahdi, 53, stated from his front room on a latest afternoon, alongside two buddies who dropped in to help him.
“However, frankly, nothing has been accomplished since. It’s not solely my son that’s gone. There are nonetheless many youths dying.”
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In recent times, Montreal has grappled with an increase in youth violence authorities have attributed to a mixture of components together with the COVID-19 pandemic, social media and, extra not too long ago, feuds between avenue gangs.
Nonetheless reeling from his son’s unsolved killing a 12 months and a half later, Ouahdi sat down with the Montreal Gazette as a result of he desires individuals to know the toll the violence takes on households. He’s additionally determined for options.
Throughout a sprawling dialog, the daddy of three stepped away on a number of events to collect himself. He usually wiped tears away when explaining how his household has been torn by Hani’s killing, and urged authorities to root out the issue earlier than different households face the identical.
Ouahdi decried how violence has been trivialized amongst younger individuals, known as for stricter legal guidelines governing younger offenders and for police and elected officers to prioritize ending the distribution of unlawful weapons.
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“I believe everybody has a job to play on this,” Ouahdi stated. “Residents, law enforcement officials, youth safety, judges, mother and father, educators — everybody.”
A lawyer and physician in Algeria, Ouahdi and his spouse moved to Laval with their three kids 12 years in the past.
Ouahdi described Hani, their eldest, as a pillar of the household and his “right-hand man.” On the time of his demise, he was getting ready for college in Ottawa, writing and making music and serving to out at his father’s transportation firm.
The night time in query, Hani was seated in a automobile in a cul-de-sac in Anjou when a suspect opened fireplace towards it.
Hani was struck a number of occasions within the higher physique. Listening to the gunshots, neighbours rushed to the automobile to compress the injuries and administer first assist. One other individual within the automobile, 17, was wounded however survived, making his option to a close-by dépanneur in the hunt for assist.
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Ouahdi is adamant he doesn’t consider Hani was concerned with avenue gangs. Following the capturing, preliminary stories acknowledged he was not recognized to police, whereas the 17-year-old was. Nonetheless, Ouahdi takes exception to the way in which that description is commonly utilized to younger victims.
He stated it does little however dehumanize victims and luxury others who might imagine their very own kids are shielded from the violence, like an “anesthetic for society.”
“However that’s the place the issue begins,” Ouahdi stated. “As a result of everybody must be involved by against the law like this.”
Hani was certainly one of a number of youths from immigrant households who’ve been killed in recent times. Final month, 18-year-old Khaled Mouloudj was shot useless on a sidewalk solely a brief drive from the place Hani was killed.
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In every case, Ouahdi and his spouse have tried to go to the households within the aftermath. They don’t at all times know what to say, he stated, however consider it’s vital for different mother and father to know they aren’t alone.
“We made sacrifices to come back right here. We left every part behind: our jobs, our careers, our research. However we got here right here as a alternative, so our kids might reside in peace and security,” he added. “Just a few years later, we’re burying these kids.”
There have been no arrests in Hani’s killing.
In talking with different households, Ouahdi stated he can’t assist however really feel the Montreal police are overwhelmed by the state of affairs. Within the 12 months following Hani’s demise, no less than seven different younger males below the age of twenty-two had been killed within the metropolis.
“I really feel the system, on an entire, has been caught brief. As in the event that they don’t have time to have a tendency to 1 leak earlier than one other one begins,” stated certainly one of Ouahdi’s buddies, Elies, a father of three himself. “Hani’s demise was the start of an earthquake, once we actually hoped he could be the final.”
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In latest weeks, the Montreal police have stated they’ve cause to consider town could possibly be heading towards a violent summer time however are ready for it.
On Wednesday, police performed sweeping raids throughout 4 boroughs in reference to Mouloudj’s demise, arresting eight individuals between 18 and 20 years outdated and seizing proof they hope will make clear the capturing.
In the meantime, within the time since Hani’s demise, Ouahdi has left his son’s room untouched.
The considered clearing out his devices and different belongings stays too painful, he stated. Some nights, his spouse sleeps in her son’s mattress. Collectively, they go to his grave almost daily.
Ouahdi credit the outpouring of help they obtained from Hani’s buddies with serving to the household survive.
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For months afterwards, younger individuals saved displaying up at their house. They took turns providing assist, both delivering groceries or clearing snow from their driveway.
The household couldn’t consider it.
“That exhibits he was an excellent individual. My son was an excellent individual,” Ouahdi stated, dropping his head. “And I insist you point out this: I used to be so happy with him when he was alive. And I’m much more happy with him in demise.”
jfeith@postmedia.com
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