The mayor of La Doré says he has never seen such a threat before today in his small municipality of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, while a major police operation is underway for a possibly armed suspect.
“From memory, and I have lived all my life here, we have never seen that”, launches the mayor of La Doré Ghislain Laprise, 62 years old.
Municipality of La Doré
Portrait of Ghislain Laprise, Mayor of La Doré
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) asked around 2:30 p.m. to its entire city, of approximately 1,360 inhabitants, to avoid the sector of the Trenche river near Lac Élaine. An elderly man in his late 50s is wanted at this location. He would carry a long weapon on him.
“If you are currently in this area, do not approach the suspect, lock the doors, move away from the windows, leave the area if it is safe to do so”, alerted the SQ, on Twitter.
Tournament interrupted
Ghislain Laprise tells the Log that he was in the middle of a darts tournament with his son when he received the alert on his phone.
“We are several together and calm. The doors are locked and we are all in the basement in a room. There is no panic. We are waiting for news from the police for the moment, ”he explains.
Mr. Laprise invites the population to stay at home. “For the moment, it does not seem so bad and it seems to be far from us this situation”, he specifies.
Around 3:30 p.m., it was still not possible to know the circumstances that led to this police operation in La Doré.