A hammer blow to the head and a stab in the shoulder for a conflict that had nothing to do with him: the teenager attacked near Calixa-Lavallée high school, in Montreal North, explains poorly why he was targeted after school on Monday. Concerned about the lack of surveillance around the establishment, his mother fears her son’s return to class while the suspects are still at large.
Gary* timidly opens the door of the tiny apartment in Montreal North where he lives with his parents and his brother before sitting down on the couch, his arms folded.
He’s doing better, says the big, broad-shouldered man, lifting the sleeve of his t-shirt. A bandage covers a still fresh wound. Monday, at the end of the classes, a group of armed young people attacked him at the end of a conflict which degenerated. “I received a stab wound, in addition to the hammer on my head,” he said.
His mother looks away from the television, where a pastor is reciting a mass live from Port-au-Prince. “I haven’t slept since it happened. We were really lucky,” she says with a sigh. Two days earlier, her son was in critical condition, lying in a hospital bed. “All because of an argument… I don’t understand how the school doesn’t watch more. It’s not easy for us, ”she continues before bursting into tears.
The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) arrested a suspect, a 17-year-old young man, on Wednesday. According to the first information transmitted by the SPVM, the first suspect arrested “is not a student of the school”. His appearance before a judge of the Youth Court is scheduled for Thursday at the start of the day.
According to agent Véronique Dubuc, spokesperson for the Montreal police, “the investigation is progressing well and other arrests are to come”. The other assailants, who have not yet been arrested, are also not students of the school. According to our information, there would be a total of five suspects in this case.
Mme Dubuc recalled on Wednesday that the SPVM had implemented “several actions” in the school sector and was working closely with its management. Socio-community agents, community development advisers as well as members of the community consultation and rapprochement team (ECCR) and the multidisciplinary intervention team in schools (EMIE) were dispatched to the site to “reassure the population “.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
A bandage covers Gary’s still-fresh wound.
A escalating conflict
It all started with a conflict between a student from Calixa-Lavallée school and another teenager, according to Gary. “The girl didn’t like how the guy talked to her. He took her by the collar. »
A few hours later, a group of young people followed a teenager who knows the girl and frequents the same establishment. They initially planned to go after him, according to what the victim learned from other students. “That’s all I know, because I don’t know them. »
The group of assailants appeared near the school. Gary approached out of curiosity. Some were armed with knives, others held hammers, describes the young injured. Several people tried to take part in the battle to protect the targeted youngster.
“They saw me running. They must have thought I was with the guy, ”describes the teenager. He then slid to the ground. On the ground, he received a blow to the head, then another to the upper body. It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that he felt a throbbing pain, as his coat soaked with blood.
School staff cared for him inside the school.
He also dreads his return to class. “As long as they are not arrested, they can find me and come after me. Even his brother took time off after the event, Gary’s mother sighed, wiping away her tears.
“It’s really not easy. We need more security. You can’t be attacked at school. »
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Gary’s mother
Frequent arguments
Wednesday. It’s lunch time and the students are laughing while watching a video on TikTok near the school. Others brave the cold and run to the nearest pizzeria. The violent dispute of two days ago is no longer the topic of the hour: the pupils questioned by The Press are used to conflicts that end in fights, they say.
A long-standing rivalry between the students of the Saint-Exupéry school and those of “Calix”, explains the young Anis, shrugging his shoulders. He claims to stay away from bickering that escalates. Is he afraid of ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time, like last Monday’s young victim?
” No. It doesn’t worry me, because I hang out with people who know how to fight. If it happens to me when I’m on my own, I’ll follow the law. The law, continues Anis, is the principle of “legitimate defense”.
“If it’s not you who strikes first, you have the right to retaliate. Because you are just defending yourself, ”he explains nonchalantly. “There have always been conflicts, but not to the point of giving hammer blows”, pleads another of his comrades, who prefers to keep his identity quiet to avoid tensions. The suspects, according to his theory, are students from “another rival high school”, he adds.
The lunch break is coming to an end. Three SPVM patrollers monitor the young people. Although he’s not worried about getting into a fight, Anis admits it: there could be more surveillance near the school. “Today the police go around the block, but usually it seems to me to be empty. The school supervisors, they are already busy with the fights inside, ”he underlines while walking away to join his group of friends.
Measures are being put in place to strengthen surveillance and ensure the safety of students and staff, assured Ms.e Valérie Biron, from the Pointe-de-l’Île school service centre. “A team of professionals is present at the school to provide the necessary support to students and staff who feel the need. »
* Fictitious first name
Anyone with information related to this assault is asked to contact 911. It is also possible to report anonymously and confidentially to Info-Crime Montreal at 514 393-1133 or online.
With Henri Ouellette-Vézina, The Press