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WARNING: This story includes explicit language and details of a fatal police encounter.
The family of an unarmed 15-year-old shot dead by a police officer in September is suing the Longueuil, Que., police force.
Family representatives said at a news conference on Tuesday that Longueuil police used unreasonable and disproportionate force on Nooran Rezayi on Sept. 21 when an officer responding to a 911 call shot him twice.
“We want justice,” Fahima Rezayi, Nooran’s mother, said. “We want the police officer to face consequences, the police department takes responsibility and this doesn’t happen again. There can’t be another Nooran.”
The family’s lawsuit requests approximately $2.2 million in damages on behalf of Nooran’s parents and extended family from the City of Longueuil and Longueuil police.
The family also released three videos they say they obtained from neighbours.
The family says the videos show Nooran sitting on a curb at the corner of de Monaco and Joseph-Daigneault streets before a police cruiser, tires screeching and engine revving, speeds up to them. Some of the teens run as the car arrives. Then, a police officer can be heard shouting “Get on the ground” before two loud shots ring out.
One of the teens then can be heard saying “Yo man, what the fuck.”
Fernando Belton, one of the lawyers representing the Rezayi family, said the videos show the context before and during the shooting — even if they do not show the officer shooting Nooran.
“Between the officers shouting the comment to get on the ground and the gunshots, three seconds elapsed,” he said.
Nooran’s death sparked outrage among loved ones, schoolmates and members of the community at large. The Quebec government has also said it is open to holding a public coroner’s inquiry into the teen’s death.
The Rezayi family’s lawsuit comes as the investigation into the shooting by Quebec’s police oversight body, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendante (BEI), enters its third month.
WATCH | Mother speaks out about son’s death:
‘He wanted to enjoy life’: Mother of teen shot dead by Longueuil police speaks out
Fahima Rezayi spoke alongside lawyers Fernando Belton and Virginie Dufresne-Lemire. The family of 15-year-old Nooran Rezayi is taking legal action against Longueuil, Que., police, alleging an officer used disproportionate force on Sept. 21 when responding to a 911 call. Nooran was shot twice, killing him.
Lone gun recovered at the scene belonged to police
Rezayi, a high school student, was shot and killed after police responded to a 911 call reporting a group of armed people in a Longueuil, Que., neighbourhood, on Montreal’s South Shore.
His family says he was unarmed and carrying only a backpack filled with school books. The BEI has since confirmed that no firearm was recovered from the teen, but that a baseball bat was recovered there.
At their news conference, the family said the BEI has also failed to keep them informed of updates in the case.
In a news release, the family says the police watchdog held a news conference two days after Rezayi’s death without informing them and deceived the public by saying that a gun was found on the scene without first clarifying that it was the gun belonging to the police officer who shot Nooran.
“Only one weapon was seized at the scene of the incident, and it belonged to the police officer who fired the shots,” the family’s media release said.
The family also criticized the media leak of the 911 call that led to Rezayi’s death. Radio-Canada reported the contents of the call days after the shooting: a caller tells police a group of people wearing masks and carrying a baseball bat and pepper spray are walking through the neighbourhood. The caller also describes the handle of a firearm sticking out of a black backpack.
“It seems to have been leaked to influence public opinion against the teens,” said Virginie Dufresne-Lemire, one of the other lawyers representing the family. “We find this way of doing things deplorable.”
The shooting has drawn significant public scrutiny — including from family and friends of the victim who fear the investigation will not lead to justice.
WATCH | Community mourned following shooting in September:
Sadness and anger in Longueuil, Que., after 15-year-old fatally shot by police
Quebec’s police watchdog, the BEI, is investigating after a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed by Longueuil police on Sunday.
BEI cases almost never result in charges
Earlier this fall, BEI director Brigitte Bishop held a rare briefing to defend the agency’s independence, urging the public to trust the process as investigators met with the officers involved.
Under a 2024 court ruling, officers are required to attend BEI interviews but retain the right to remain silent.
Since its creation in 2016, the BEI has opened more than 450 investigations, including 52 involving fatal police shootings.
Only two cases have ever resulted in charges of any kind, and none of the fatal shooting files have led to criminal prosecution so far. The BEI has faced criticism for the near-zero charge rate resulting from its investigations.
Some critics say the agency is too pro-police, highlighting that many of its investigators are former police officers themselves.
As of April, the BEI employed 45 investigators, 22 of which were former police officers. They are not allowed to lead investigations on files involving their former employers.
