Murder of a teenager in Saint-Michel | Killed in the middle of the street

A teenager killed in the streets of Montreal. Still. Thomas Trudel, 16, was returning home Sunday evening after a trip to the park. He was shot dead a stone’s throw from his house in the Saint-Michel area. The circumstances of this “gratuitous” murder arouse anguish in the neighborhood and those close to the victim. The reasons remain unclear and no arrests were reported the day after the tragedy.

Mayssa Ferah
Press

Alice Girard-Bossé
Press

Monday morning. Passers-by observe the sad spectacle that takes place at the corner of rue Villeray and 20^e Avenue. Three young men in black hoodies stand in front of a wooden fence pierced by one of the bullets fired the day before. The trio who came to pay homage to Thomas Trudel leave silently. One of them lingers. He makes a prayer sign with his bruised hands and runs away.

The murder of Thomas Trudel, the 31^e to occur in Montreal, was free, lament other friends.

“We were coming back from the park. We chilled. There was no quarrel. I do not understand what happened, ”said a friend of the deceased, who requested anonymity. The bereaved teenager cannot digest the death of his sidekick in the neighborhood. “It was free. There was nothing at the park, I swear. I swear to you, ”the friend repeats, looking around, refusing to answer any further questions.

The victim was with a small group of friends. They were in François-Perrault Park, adjacent to the school he attended, confirm two other friends. Thomas’s father asked him to be home before 9 p.m. What he did. Shortly after leaving the scene, the young victim was stopped by a man as she was walking on the sidewalk at the corner of rue Villeray and 20^e Avenue.

The individual out of the darkness would have fired in his direction after a brief verbal exchange. Thomas Trudel was shot in the upper body and collapsed on the wet sidewalk. A stone’s throw from his home and his school, in a residential area lined with pretty houses already decorated for Christmas.

There was no exchange of beatings or attempted theft between the suspect and the victim. A witness at the scene called 911.

On the spot, the agents found the young man inert. “Maneuvers are then undertaken to resuscitate him, but the death is unfortunately observed on the spot by the paramedics”, explained Sunday evening the spokesperson for the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), Raphaël Bergeron.

Thomas Trudel was not known to the police, underlines the SPVM. The Major Crimes Section was in charge of the case. The motives for the homicide remain unclear. No arrests have taken place yet.

“He was just 16 years old. We were going to celebrate his birthday in two weeks. I can’t believe it, ”sobs a friend from the Joseph-François-Perrault school, where the victim was educated.

The school administration addressed the parents by email following the death of the fifth grade student, known for his hockey prowess. Psychological help was provided to the students throughout the day. “Those who felt the need were able to verbalize their emotions to the interveners in place. ”

Bereaved relatives

Several friends and relatives showed up in front of the scene of the tragedy at the end of the day. Friends of young Thomas came in turn to meditate, tears in their eyes at the sight of the four bouquets of flowers on the ground.

“Our hearts bleed with parents. He is a normal youngster, in a normal family, with a normal life and he was shot dead because he was walking in the street, ”says Viviane Dorion, the mother of a friend of Thomas.

“It was free, it could have happened to anyone,” adds his daughter, Florence Gaule-Dorion.

The family visited Thomas’ parents during the day.

“He was almost home. He was turning the street and he was done, adds M^me Dorion. It didn’t happen in a dark corner below the Metropolitan, it happened in a normal street, at a reasonable time. ”

Concern in the neighborhood

“Me, I take the car. I no longer walk on foot. You are now afraid of being confused with another guy when you are not involved in the arguments, ”sighs Moncef Mejri, 18, a native of Saint-Michel.

He is well aware of the conflicts that arise on social networks, the firearms that circulate easily and the impulsiveness of certain young people.

A few meters from the perimeter, Sara Berajif stares at the forensic identity technician who is manipulating a metal detector in search of casings. The scene gives him shivers.

“I got to know Thomas when he was younger because he was playing with my son. I thought of the parents. They are very good people, ”says the mother of the family, upset.

Her children no longer roam around their neighborhood once the sun has gone down. “I have a youngster. He wears a hoodie like all teenagers. He plays in the park like all teenagers. If he’s mistaken for someone else? If he receives a stray bullet? It worries me, ”she continues.

“We saw the body of a teenager on the sidewalk across the street. You can’t forget it, ”says Gilles Longpré, adjusting his bathrobe. Two “bursts of gunfire” disrupted his evening, unheard of since he moved to this area 15 years ago.

Madeleine Normand was sleeping when the shots rang out. She saw nothing, heard nothing. But his low expression and his trembling hands speak volumes about the concern felt in the face of this rare and sudden violence. “I’m not going out late. But it’s really worrying for us seniors. What do I do if someone near us has a gun? ”

Weapons more accessible, victims younger

Access to weapons in recent years explains the young age of victims and suspects, summarizes René-André Brisebois.

“A young person who wants to arm himself is generally to ensure his protection. The context of rivalries between criminal groups creates a climate of insecurity, ”continues the speaker and researcher at the University Institute for Young People in Difficulty of the CIUSSS Center-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.

Without being linked to street gangs or armed cliques, young people may decide to use their guns if they feel in danger or provoked by “the slightest crooked look”.

Adolescents are afraid of being mistaken for another young person in the neighborhood or mistakenly associated with a conflict, according to the echoes of Mr. Brisebois.

“We cannot know what happened, but the fact that young people who are not necessarily linked to criminal groups get wounded by firearms, it calls into question the accessibility of these weapons”, indicates Maria Mourani, criminologist and president of Mourani-Criminologie.

She recalls that it is known that members of street gangs or criminal associations have access to firearms, even if they are minors. “But what we are seeing more and more is that there are going to be young people who are not necessarily linked to criminal groups who will succeed in having weapons, because they can get them on the Internet. the internet ”, explains M^me Murani.

The accessibility of weapons adds to the culture of violence put forward in social networks, adds the criminologist. “Young people are so exposed to violence that it takes a lot to consider something violent. ”