Charges could be filed Saturday against the 19-year-old young man arrested the day before at the scene of a family tragedy in the Rosemont district of Montreal. The latter must appear by telephone in the morning before the Court of Quebec.
The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) now confirms that the three corpses discovered Friday morning in a dwelling on rue Bélanger were the victims of the third, fourth and fifth murders to occur on the island of Montreal in 2023.
“Major crime investigators confirm that these are three homicides. The three victims are a 53-year-old woman, a 75-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man. There is a family link between the victims and the suspect, ”said agent Caroline Chèvrefils, spokesperson for the SPVM, on Saturday morning.
As for the suspect, the SPVM indicated that he had no criminal record.
“The charges will be determined by the DPCP,” said Agent Chèvrefils.
The muscular arrest of this individual, covered in blood, outside the duplex for sale, was filmed by witnesses. A video was notably broadcast on social networks and by certain media.
The police had discovered the bodies of the three victims inside the building, bearing traces of violence, “possibly caused by a sharp object”, said another SPVM spokesperson, Julien Lévesque.
The crime scene was the subject of a large security perimeter. Several police vehicles were at the scene and a command post was established. Neighbors were also questioned.
Employees and patients who had to go to the Montreal Heart Institute, located opposite the crime scene, were asked to go to the establishment by another access than its main entrance.
In a press briefing in his riding of L’Assomption on Friday, Prime Minister François Legault said that this was a “really disturbing” situation.
Asked about the accumulation of fatal tragedies for a few weeks, Mr. Legault did not want to advance on the specific case in the Rosemont district, but he underlined that everywhere in the world there were problems related to the Mental Health.
The Prime Minister reiterated his commitment to increase the envelope reserved for mental health in the budget which will be presented next week.