Gun violence | “It brews” in Laval

Spring has been warm. Three shootings targeting young people in early May, a murder in a family restaurant, shootings at all hours of the day and dozens of casings found have rekindled the concerns of residents. For many citizens, Laval is the new Montreal. In order to understand the phenomenon, The Press made an incursion into the heart of an HLM in the Chomedey district targeted by projectiles last month.

In the heart of Place St-Martin

Isolated young people who fear leaving their sector. Shots that could ring out at any time of the day. Cliques of criminal teenagers who form in real estate parks. Residents consumed by worry.

In the heart of the Chomedey district, the avenues Dumouchel, Hector-Charland and Albert-Duquesne as well as the boulevard Le Corbusier form a quadrilateral where at least 400 families are crammed into small dwellings.

At Place St-Martin (PSM), “it’s brewing,” a resident explains straight away.

In this huge low-rent housing stock, residents live in worry, and young people have had to deal with a climate of fear since the shooting that occurred in early May. Two still unknown suspects opened fire a dozen times in the direction of three boys.

“I saw more transactions in front of my house than police patrolling and arresting criminals,” says the lady, rolling her eyes.

Every evening for 23 years, she sits on her porch. And inevitably, she attends the sad spectacle of these HLM which shelter all the vices: consumption, pimping and street gangs.

“What big shooting do you want us to talk about?” The one from last month, last year, or the one from eight years ago? said the lady with a sigh.

If she prefers to remain anonymous, it is because she has feared reprisals from gang members for several years now. Eight years ago, stray bullets flew through the window of a now vacant home. The ten projectiles fired in early May revived his fears.

Yes, of course, there are the stakeholders who go door to door regularly, the gatherings between citizens, the various committees and the Municipal Housing Office (OMH) of Laval, the coffee meeting with the police and the many activities promoted by social workers. She insists: the gangs that shoot are a minority that makes a lot of noise. And there are great prevention initiatives. But nothing that remedies the comings and goings of young criminals and the cliques that form and take part in the myriad of conflicts that punctuate their virtual daily lives.

Many of the windows of these modest buildings are covered with cardboard or a t-shirt as curtains. Many bicycles are fixed to the balconies, in addition to the toys lying around in the park, near the closed swimming pool. Set back, a few vacant buildings, completely barricaded.

From 9 p.m., the common areas are empty.

A couple leaves the community vegetable garden at a run and rushes into a winding alley, staring at a few young people on bicycles.

A Garda security guard monitors the surroundings. He makes his rounds in each of the darkened brick buildings: he opens the main door, scans the stairwell and returns outside. The employee hired by the OMH stayed in his service vehicle most of the evening, in a parking lot on the outskirts of Place St-Martin, before leaving around 4 a.m.

“It’s not safe”

“My 14-year-old daughter, she went out at night to walk the dog. There are big teenagers who laugh at her and tell her “You have a nice ass”. It’s not safe,” says Dayane Williams.

The mother of two daughters has lived for a year in a cramped but well-maintained apartment, cluttered with huge furniture. The family lived in a spacious house before the pandemic, but the vagaries of life and the housing crisis brought them to Place St-Martin.

“Me, when I take the dog out, I’m a little scared. It’s not the safest neighborhood in Laval, especially for young miners our age,” said young Serena simply, sitting in her pink bedroom with her fists clenched.

“I often see very weird people, they smell like drugs,” she says. I don’t feel like going out. The young people here are influenced by the older ones. I don’t feel like playing outside. »

At the Williams, we take out the trash in the morning, not at night. Same thing when you want to go out to walk the dog or go shopping.

This is without mentioning the quibbles of neighbours: the large families who have just arrived in the country have difficulty cohabiting with the people who occupy these buildings from generation to generation.

Dayane Williams often calls the police. Sometimes in connection with mayhem, other times to report gatherings of young adults who mingle with those of the occupants of HLMs. She would like more police patrols, which would help reassure residents.

Other options than the street

Tuesday morning. As schoolchildren crowd towards the bus shelter, Marco, 19, sits in the middle of the sunny park, drinking orange juice straight from the neck of the two-litre bottle. He doesn’t flinch when asked about criminal groups and shootings.

Things are happening at “PSM” and the police are not often there, he admits. But there is nothing to be afraid of. It is necessary to qualify and especially not to stigmatize the place. For this young man of Haitian origin, the presence of the security guard is sufficient.

According to him, hordes of Laval Police Service (SPL) officers circled the block in the days following the shooting. The comings and goings of the officers made some young people uncomfortable, while others were cooperative.

“If you were a young person with a bag, they would call you out,” says the CEGEP student, half-amused, half-annoyed.

He has nothing to reproach himself for, so he complied. Would youth monitoring change anything in the conflict? ” I do not believe. Young people need love. They need to know they have options other than the street. They see no other way to cob [argent]. »

Fear, mistrust and impunity

It is only in the morning that the exterior corridors of the imposing concrete complex are teeming with young people. The school children are once again running towards the bus stop. They all have their heads down, eyes on the ground and earphones fixed to their ears. No fun, outpourings, or heated discussions at PSM, where Mourad* lives, who has just entered adolescence.

Her eyes hidden under her curly forelock project ardor and defiance. “I’m not in a gang,” he says. On Snapchat and Instagram, dollar signs surround his pseudonym. In his ephemeral publications, he sells iPhones and PlayStation consoles found “somewhere”.

Conflicts and shootings leave him unmoved, he says, shrugging his shoulders. He is used to seeing criminal individuals pass by in the park as well as on social networks.

“This summer is going to be hot, stay at home [je niaise pas] PSM [est chaud]. We will yellow tape your blocks when we [roule] “, is it written on his Snapchat account. The expression “yellow tape” means to block the sector.

The 10 projectiles fired in early May could be a warning to a young person who, precisely, was seen with “the wrong people”, he thinks.

Several young people interviewed by The Press are convinced that individuals from Laval-des-Rapides are responsible.

“It speaks, admits Mourad. I heard that, but I have no proof. Me, I would never go to Laval-des-Rapides right now, it’s too hot. »

This climate of mistrust undermines the morale of young people. In some neighborhoods, the arrival of a new face brings a smile. One more guy to play soccer, we say to ourselves. But not at PSM. When a new guy lands in the compound, we’re not going to talk to him. We don’t trust him. “Maybe he’s talking to the bizz [la police], maybe he’s talking to the other neighborhoods. It’s better not to talk to new people before you really know them”, analyzes Mourad.

According to him, many teenagers in the neighborhood doubt that criminals are really afraid of the police.

“It’s like the guys don’t care. They call the police by name and insult them. I saw a policeman being filmed, threatening in a video on Instagram. They know they’re going to take 18 months and then get out of jail. »

A police source not authorized to speak to the media nuance: the police are present on the ground, but it is the judicial system that has led to this impunity among street gang members. “They are arrested, but manage to get out with minimum sentences, in particular thanks to preventive time. »

Palpable concern, admits elected official

“The concern of the citizens is there. But it’s not just one sector. It’s all Laval, ” pleads the provincial deputy for Laval-des-Rapides, Saul Polo.

He refuses to label Place St-Martin as a ghetto. “There are great stories that take place there,” he noted during a meeting with the residents.

There is “uninhibited violence” in Laval, which has become a meeting place for organized crime and young delinquents.

Last December, a young man had to take refuge in a library while another allegedly shot through the glass of the building. ” It’s horrible. It strikes the imagination. »

Is there better collaboration between the police and the intervention environment? ” Definitely. If we need more resources for police services, let’s act. Families in some neighborhoods have asked for visible police and want to know that there are arrests being made, the politician said.

“I don’t want this situation of fear to create profiling. It is a drift in which one must not fall. We must distinguish the young person who needs resources from the hardened criminal. »

We must invest in repression, but inject the same sums into prevention. “I don’t understand why at Place St-Martin, there is no youth centre. There is also the supervision of young criminals, border control which is a federal responsibility. If Ottawa backs down on minimum sentences, that also sends a worrying message. In short, there is a lot of work to be done to improve the climate of violence at the moment. »

*fictitious name