Montreal police announced Monday that they have pinned three men in connection with shots fired at a house on rue Valade, in the borough of Saint-Laurent, in early March. Four handguns were also seized by law enforcement.
Posted at 3:28 p.m.
In a press release issued at the end of the afternoon, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) reports that the “main suspects” in this case are Rizwanullah Shaik, 24, and Jonathan Robertson. , who is 21 years old.
The two appeared before a judge last Friday at the Montreal courthouse. They now face several counts, including possession or storage of a firearm and ammunition “negligently”, discharge of a firearm or drug trafficking.
A third suspect, who would be more of an acolyte of the two suspects, was also arrested. This is Simon Shikman, 36 years old. He is also charged with conspiracy. According to the police force, the investigation notably made it possible to seize four handguns, but also “ammunition, cell phones and various quantities of narcotics” which were still unidentified or quantified on Monday.
A court document seen by The Press Monday, however, reveals that two of the weapons seized were a Ruger-57 pistol and a PF940D 9mm pistol. “High capacity” weapons magazines were also collected by the investigators.
13 shots
This case initially dates back to March 4. That day, a little after 4 a.m., a vehicle had stopped on Valade Street, not far from the intersection with Abbott Street and Alexis-Nihon Park. A man then got out of the passenger side, then fired 13 shots in the direction of a house.
According to the account given by the investigators, several windows would then have “shattered”. The suspects finally fled before the arrival of the first patrol officers, called via the central 911 by neighbors. Fortunately, no one was injured in the event.
Of note: the previous night, March 3, a suspect had also “spilled gasoline” on a van that was parked very close to the same property that was targeted by the shots. A 27-year-old man, Ilyesse Gorfti, was arrested on March 10 in the wake of this other investigation, before being charged with arson, possession of incendiary materials and possession of narcotics. It’s unclear whether the two cases could be linked, but authorities are unlikely to rule it out at this point.
One thing is certain: anyone with information related to this ongoing investigation is invited to contact 911, their neighborhood station or the confidential and anonymous center of Info-Crime Montreal, by dialing 514 393-1133. A reporting form can also be completed online.
With Louis-Samuel Perron, La Presse