The younger brother of powerful gang leader Jean-Philippe Célestin was eliminated during the night from Friday to Saturday, in Little Italy, in Montreal.
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Brandon Jean Célestin was riddled with bullets as he walked to his Mercedes a little after midnight, at the entrance to a parking lot located near the intersection of Bellechasse and Saint-Denis streets. The 28-year-old man never returned to his vehicle.
Brandon Jean Célestin posed for the photographers during the funeral of kingpin Gregory Woolley.
Photo Agence QMI, Maxime Deland
He was surprised by one or more individuals who opened fire multiple times in his direction.
According to our information, Célestin received around twenty projectiles. On the scene, it is possible to see nearly thirty cones on the ground, each representing a shell casing found by the judicial identification section of the City of Montreal Police Department.
Location of the murder of Brandon Jean Célestin.
Photo Agence QMI, Mario Beauregard
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At the exit of the restaurant
Célestin was murdered a stone’s throw from a restaurant where his brother, the boss Jean-Philippe Célestin, would have established his “headquarters” to hold his business meetings, according to police sources.
Around 12:15 a.m., several witnesses called 911 to report that shots had just been fired.
Photo Agence QMI, Pascal Girard
“I was getting ready for bed when I heard several gunshots, it sounded like a shootout. It lasted about twenty seconds. I didn’t look out the window because I was a little afraid of what I was going to see,” testified a neighbor of the pizzeria, who preferred to remain anonymous.
When emergency services arrived, they found the lifeless body of Brandon Jean Célestin on the ground. He was pronounced dead on the spot, and his body was covered with a yellow sheet.
Photo Agence QMI, Pascal Girard
Organized crime
Brandon Jean Célestin was seen last December at the funeral in Montreal of the influential gangster Gregory Woolley, murdered two weeks earlier in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. His brother Jean-Philippe was also present for the occasion.
Without being a big player in organized crime, Brandon Jean Célestin was very well known to Montreal police officers, particularly those from the Éclipse group.
Location of the murder of Brandon Jean Célestin. Saturday, February 17, 2024. In this photo: Investigator from the Forensic Science and Forensic Medicine Laboratory searching for evidence
Photo Agence QMI, Mario Beauregard
According to our information, the victim was, however, becoming increasingly influential in the management of the operations of a major drug trafficking network in Montreal and Châteauguay managed by his brother Jean-Philippe.
Brandon Jean Célestin was charged with assault, threats and obstructing a peace officer in 2022. He was acquitted in 2019 in another case of threats and assault with a weapon.
His cousin Steven Célestin was also murdered in June 2014, in a bar in the Mile-End district of Montreal.
Responses
According to several police sources, it is to be expected that the murder of Jean-Philippe Célestin’s younger brother will cause a lot of unrest within the Montreal underworld.
“It is clear that the murder of JP Célestin’s brother will not go unpunished. “It’s going to happen in the coming weeks, it’s written in the sky,” confided a police source specializing in organized crime.
Brandon Jean Célestin (left) was seen with his brother Jean-Philippe (right) at the funeral of gangster Gregory Woolley at the beginning of last December.
MAXIME DELAND/AGENCE QMI
No suspect has yet been arrested for the murder of Brandon Jean Célestin.
This is the sixth homicide to be committed in Montreal since the start of the year.
– With Eric Thibault, Investigation Office