The two men accused of shooting Maxime Lenoir in broad daylight last month in the Rockland Center parking lot are scheduled to appear at the Montreal courthouse on Friday. They are Widens Point du Jour Paul and Samuel Jamahl Anthony Chand, according to the arrest warrant made public Friday morning.
Posted at 11:41 a.m.
The first accused, Mr. Point du Jour Paul, 27, is a resident of Montreal, while his alleged accomplice, Mr. Chand, 33, resides in Vancouver, the warrant indicates. According to the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), it was the latter who opened fire on Maxime Lenoir. He was also arrested Thursday in Vancouver. The two men are “connected to organized crime,” the SPVM said in a statement.
The murder of Maxime Lenoir – considered a cocaine importer – had a huge impact in the metropolis this summer since another murder was committed barely half an hour later, in a restaurant on rue Saint-Denis in Montreal. The two assassinations, however, were unrelated.
The Major Crimes investigators of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) took only a month to arrest the two suspects. From what we know, at least one camera captured the scene as the murder was being committed. The shooter, between two cars, on the right, opens fire on the victim. The scene was captured by a camera. The suspects’ vehicle, a dark Mazda 6, was parked near Maxime Lenoir.
After the crime, the suspects abandoned their vehicle on Canora Road in Mont-Royal, about a kilometer from Center Rockland. They tried to set it on fire, without success. The next day, the police discovered the car and seized the murder weapon and clothing, according to our sources. The investigators thus viewed and analyzed a large number of images from surveillance cameras to find the suspects so quickly.
According to some reports, a debt following an aborted importation into the United States could be one of the hypotheses behind the murder of Maxime Lenoir, which has all the appearances of a settling of accounts committed in the middle of the crime organized.
“The Montreal population’s sense of security was affected on August 23, when two firearm homicides were perpetrated in broad daylight, half an hour apart. Today, thanks to the rigorous work of investigators and specialized teams, we are pleased to be able to confirm the arrests in connection with the first event that occurred at the Rockland Centre. As for the homicide on rue Saint-Denis, I can confirm that the police investigation is following its course and that our investigators are stepping up their efforts to resolve it,” the interim director of the SPVM, Sophie Roy.