'I owe him my life': Father hit by bullets in shootout while protecting kids in Montreal's West Island
One of the men caught in the crossfire between police and a gun-toting sus‐ pect in Dollard-desOrmeaux, Que., on Sunday took five bullets to protect his son and daughter from gunfire, his family says.
When the bullets started flying on a residential street near the corner of de Sal‐ aberry Boulevard and Davig‐ non Street in Montreal's West Island just after 8 p.m., Hous‐ sam Abdallah, 52, positioned himself in front of the rounds.
The Abdallah family had just returned from a camping trip and were unloading their car when the suspect, now identified as 26-year-old Nackeal Hickey, ran up to them swinging a handgun and demanded the keys to their vehicle.
A gunfight began almost immediately, according to three members of the Abdal‐ lah family who witnessed the shooting. Police officers who were pursuing Hickey arrived - and the suspect turned and fired on them.
"I told my father and brother to run," said Abdal‐ lah's daughter Jana , who was outside when the shooting started. "We tried to get away and the shots came from all sides. I can't even tell you who was shooting at who. It was chaos."
Between the suspect and the police, as many as 40 shots may have been fired, witnesses and Radio-Canada sources said.
"We didn't even have time to respond," Abdel-Rahman Abdallah, 18, said in an inter‐ view. "[The suspect] saw the police and he started shoot‐ ing. The police fired back."
A bullet struck Abdel-Rah‐ man in the back, two cen‐ timetres from his spine, he said. He carried a cane on Wednesday, but fortunately, the bullet lodged itself in his flesh and didn't hit his inter‐ nal organs.
After he was struck, Ab‐ del-Rahman saw his father covered in blood, bleeding profusely from multiple wounds.
It was all a blur, he said, but he learned later, in the hospital, that his father had stepped in front of the rounds, protecting his family.
Both he and his sister said they owed him their lives.
'My father is my hero'
"I saw my father fall. He was lying on the ground, bleeding. I was in the middle of them while I heard dozens of shots ring out everywhere. I escaped unharmed, without a single bullet," Jana said.
"It was a huge thing he did for me. I'm so grateful. My father is my hero. With‐ out him, I might not be alive."
Doctors discharged AbdelRahman from the hospital on Tuesday, but he said he vis‐ ited his father before leaving. "I owe him my life," said Ab‐ del-Rahman.
His father has a long road to recovery ahead of him, with multiple surgeries needed, but Sirin El Jundi, Ab‐ del-Rahman's mother, said her husband was able to speak even if he is still badly hurt.
The family is in shock, they all said, and they won‐ dered why it took so long for paramedics to arrive and be‐ gin to care for their injured father. He lay on the ground for an hour before help ar‐ rived, even though the police were there.
Prosecutors filed 15 crimi‐ nal charges against Hickey, including four counts of at‐ tempted murder, illegal pos‐ session of a firearm, robbery and breaching bail condi‐ tions.
Hickey was arrested in July in a separate case and charged with breaking and entering. He was out on bail on Sunday when the police say he fired on officers and sparked the gunfight.
He had agreed to pay a $500 surety and possess no weapons to secure his bail in the breaking and entering case.
Hickey was absent from the courtroom on Wednes‐ day. He remains in hospital.