A murder and an attempted murder – both by firearms – took place a few hours apart on Friday night, in Montreal and Laval. Either way, a street gang conflict could be in the background.
This outbreak of violence began Friday evening in the borough of Saint-Laurent in Montreal. Around 8 p.m., police officers from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) were called to the corner of Jules-Poitras and Deguire boulevards.
This intersection in the northwest of the city is surrounded by a park, apartment buildings and a few industrial businesses.
A 28-year-old man was found in a white car with gunshot wounds to the upper body. He was then alone in the vehicle, but the SPVM could not confirm whether other people were with the victim at the time of the murder. A vehicle was also reportedly seen fleeing the scene. According to our sources, the victim is Chayanne O’Neil Peralta Garcia, well known to the police.
“Honestly, I thought there was a bomb, there were so many police and fire trucks [sur la scène] “, confided a neighbor to The Press. She preferred to conceal her name for fear of reprisals. “And after that I saw them throwing blankets on the floor, and I thought maybe someone was hurt. I had the impression [que les policiers] were doing resuscitation maneuvers, but I’m not even sure, ”adds the one who observed the scene from her window.
The victim was eventually transported to hospital in critical condition before succumbing to his injuries a little later. He was unconscious on board the ambulance during his transfer to the hospital center. This is number 41e homicide on SPVM territory in 2022.
Many charges
The victim, Chayanne O’Neil Peralta Garcia, has been arrested numerous times in recent years. In August 2016, the young man hit a car in the middle of the night in the Ahuntsic district. The driver of the other car, Jean-Libord Jeanty, 76, died of his injuries. Peralta Garcia was charged with dangerous driving causing death. When he was arrested, officers found what appeared to be bullet holes in his car.
Five months later, in January 2017, Chayanne O’Neil Peralta Garcia pleaded guilty to assault charges for throwing a metal bucket of water at Ontario boxer Brandon Cook’s head at the Bell Centre. He was furious at the defeat of boxer Steven Butler.
In December 2017, Peralta Garcia and four other men were charged with serious offenses against a fellow prisoner Hank Robert, while he himself was detained at the Montreal Detention Establishment (Bordeaux prison).
In July 2021, Peralta Garcia was arrested for attempted murder in connection with shots that injured two at the Aztec restaurant-bar, in the Chomedey sector, in Laval. The victims, two men in their twenties, presented themselves to hospitals for treatment of injuries.
Attempted murder in Laval
A few hours after the murder of Peralta Garcia, about twenty kilometers away, a young man was also shot, this time in the Fabreville sector in Laval.
The attempted murder took place in the middle of the night from Friday to Saturday on the 20e avenue, a small residential street lined with single-storey residences.
The police were dispatched to the scene to find a young adult man, under the age of 20, according to Lieutenant Goulet. He was shot in the upper and lower body. He was taken to hospital, but his life was not in danger, said Lieutenant Goulet.
According to our sources, the backstory of these two crimes – possibly related – could be a settling of accounts related to street gangs.
Two murders in six months
Residents of the area where the murder took place, in Montreal, told The Press that the event worried them. “It’s scary, because you think it’s possible to have a stray bullet,” explains one of them, who also requested anonymity. Me, when I do my shopping and I have a lot of things to go up, I take the elevator. [Le meurtre] happened right there! »
“We were so scared, really. Because it’s in front of our house, ”says another neighbor of the residential building in front of which the crime took place.
Especially since last August, a stone’s throw away on boulevard Jules-Poitras, another murder took place, that of André Fernand Lemieux, a 64-year-old man, father of Quebec boxer David Lemieux.
However, the circumstances of this assassination were different. Mr. Lemieux had been randomly targeted by the alleged assassin, Abdulla Shaikh, who was later shot by the police, but not before killing two more. A triple homicide that shocked Quebec.
Among other things, Mr. Shaikh was diagnosed with schizophrenia and narcissistic and antisocial personality traits. His condition required an annual review by the Mental Disorder Review Board, the last of which was carried out in March 2022.
This drama is the subject of a public inquiry, while the trial of Mr. Shaikh should begin in January in Laval.
In any case, it’s too much for two neighbors who told The Press decided to move from this area of Montreal. “I said to myself that it has become quite dangerous in the area, so I am moving. Oh yes, after 22 years here! “, launched one of them.
With Daniel Renaud and Louis-Samuel Perron, The Press