When guns come into play, lives begin to be at peril. Such was the case when a 26-year-old Rollin 90’s gang member had gone to settle a dispute with a childhood friend in the Dollard-des-Ormeaux borough of Montreal. The 26-year-old suspect had unfortunately brought a gun with him, which ultimately changed the fate of several people including an innocent father and son who happened to be in the neighborhood at the time of the incident.
The incident took place towards 8pm yesterday (4/8/2024). As we previously mentioned, the currently unnamed suspect went to a childhood friend’s home in a residential sector in Dollard-des-Ormeaux to settle a dispute. The home was located on Rue Davignon, near the Salaberry Boulevard intersection. Unfortunately the attempt to bring the dispute to a resolution failed, and the conversation soon turned to an altercation. The suspect had pulled his gun out, and started to threaten his friend’s life. The two had gotten into a tug-of-war fight with the pistol which the suspect had brought with him, when unfortunately the gun went off.
The grandmother of the first victim had witnessed the altercation that was taking place, and when the suspect pulled a pistol on her grandson, she decided to call 911 immediately, seeing as her grandson’s life was threatened. This is the moment where things began to escalate rapidly. Panicked, the 26-year-old suspect began to flee on foot, looking for the first vehicle he saw to escape the scene of the crime. He ran into one motorist, flashed his pistol in order to intimidate the motorist into giving up his car, but it didn’t work, the vehicle just sped off.
This is when events begin to be unclear. A 51-year-old father and his 18-year-old son, who were on their way back from a camping trip in a red SUV were targeted by the suspect. Sirens had begun to ring in the near distance. The 26-year-old flashed his gun towards the duo and their car, when a flurry of shots began. When police arrived on the scene, it has been rumored that they had immediately started shooting in the direction of the red SUV, believing the vehicle was the suspect’s vehicle. In the next half hour, witnesses reported hearing a total of 30 to 40 gunshots exchanged between the SPVM and the suspect. It is believed that most of these shots were fired from the police.
Police were hesitant to approach the vehicle since it was in the line of fire and most likely did not have any context in which the suspect was trying to execute a carjacking. Once the smoke settled and the shells stopped hitting the ground, authorities went to the aid of the individuals who were at the scene of the crime. The suspect had been struck multiple times in the thorax area, abdomen and in the legs. The father and driver of the red SUV had been shot 5 times in the back, leg and arm while the son had only been shot once in the back. No police officers were injured.
The mystery lies in who shot the innocent father and son, was it the suspect? Or was it the hail of stray bullets that had been unleashed by the authorities? Suffering injuries from the back would have to mean that the bullet wounds were directly in the line of fire of authorities. There is also the fact that the father was allegedly handcuffed while in the ambulance on his way to the hospital.
Facts relating to this kerfuffle have been very vague so far. All we know is the BEI (Bureau des Enquetes Independantes) has taken charge of investigating this shooting. The BEI is equivalent to an internal affairs type of investigative intervention group. The neighborhood is severely shook after this event, with a stray bullet, believed to have been shot by the SPVM, hitting the second floor window of a child’s room, missing his head by nearly inches.
The 26-year-old suspect had a heavy criminal past, most notably for assault, uttering death threats, being in possession of a firearm and parole violations. He was also a member of the Rollin 90’s, a street gang located to the west of the island. But is the carnage that happened Sunday night his fault? Partly, he was definitely an instigator, but to have the SPVM respond in a ‘wild west’ matter, most likely pumping bullets in the backs of innocent victims and generally handling the situation VERY poorly is unacceptable. To have a bullet shot through the window of a residence on the 2nd floor is also puzzling.
