Helped by surveillance cameras, sparing no effort, the Major Crimes investigators of the Montreal Police Department needed barely a month to arrest the two presumed murderers of Maxime Lenoir, who was shot dead on August 23, in the parking lot of the Center Rockland, in Montreal.
Posted at 5:00 p.m.
Updated at 5:20 p.m.
This crime had had a huge impact in the metropolis, while another murder – which has nothing to do with that of Mr. Lenoir – had been committed barely half an hour later, in a restaurant on the street St Denis.
According to our information, the two suspects arrested for the murder of Maxime Lenoir are a 33-year-old man from Vancouver, known to the police, who was the one who opened fire, and a 29-year-old Montrealer, apprehended in Ottawa, who would have been the driver of the vehicle used for the crime. The latter would be known to the SPVM and neighboring police forces.
The two men are scheduled to appear at the Montreal courthouse on Friday to face a first-degree murder charge.
From what we know, at least one camera captured the scene as the murder was being committed.
IMAGE THE PRESS
The shooter, between two cars, on the right, opens fire on the victim. The scene was captured by a camera. The suspects’ vehicle, a dark Mazda6, was parked near Maxime Lenoir.
After the crime, the suspects abandoned their vehicle, a Mazda6, on Canora Road, in Ville-Mont-Royal, about one kilometer from Center Rockland.
They tried to set it on fire, without success. The following day, sleuths discovered the car and seized the murder weapon and clothing from it, we were told.
“Let’s say investigators viewed and analyzed lots and lots of CCTV footage to track down the suspects so quickly,” a source told us.
“The Montreal population’s sense of security was affected on August 23, when two firearm homicides were perpetrated in broad daylight, half an hour apart. Today, thanks to the rigorous work of investigators and specialized teams, we are pleased to be able to confirm the arrests in connection with the first event that occurred at the Rockland Centre. As for the Saint-Denis Street homicide, I can confirm that the police investigation is ongoing and that our investigators are stepping up their efforts to resolve it,” said the interim director of the SPVM, Sophie Roy.
An independent importer
The police considered Maxime Lenoir to be a cocaine importer who had ties to bikers, the mafia and organized crime in the Near Middle East.
IMAGE THE PRESS
Once the suspect emptied his magazine, the dark vehicle pulled out of its spot in the parking lot. The suspect got back on board and the car left the scene in the direction of Canora Road.
In June 2020, Lenoir’s residence in Terrebonne was raided by Sûreté du Québec investigators as part of an investigation that led to the dismantling in Danville in Estrie of one of the largest clandestine methamphetamine manufacturing laboratories. never discovered in the province.
At the level of the importation of cocaine, Lenoir would have had established contacts in South America and was considered by the police as an independent.
In March 2017, a small plane stuffed with 130 kilograms of cocaine, piloted by two Quebecers, landed in Ohio, United States.
A month later, an investigator from the Organized Crime Division of the SPVM told the court that one of the suspects behind this importation – an individual linked to organized crime in the Near Middle East – had met Maxime Lenoir in Laval.
According to some information, a debt caused by an import that failed in the United States could be one of the hypotheses behind the murder of Lenoir which has all the appearances of a settling of accounts committed in the middle of organized crime.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.