Montreal police dissociated themselves Wednesday from the “unacceptable remarks” of an analyst, who maintained that the 16-year-old teenager shot dead in Saint-Michel, Thomas Trudel, “does not have the profile at all” of a member of a street gang “because of his nationality”.
“This morning, someone gave an interview to Hi hello in connection with the 31e homicide that occurred in Montreal in 2021. The SPVM wishes to dissociate itself from the unacceptable comments made during this interview. This person does not speak on our behalf and has never been employed by the Service, ”the police force said in a tweet, published in the middle of the afternoon.
On social networks, a sequence of an interview with Daniel Cléroux – a former patroller of the Laval Police Department (SPL) who became an analyst in police intervention in the media – has been circulating extensively since Wednesday morning.
Mr. Cléroux maintains in particular that Thomas Trudel “does not have at all the profile of being someone who is part of a gang, one by his nationality”. Almost immediately shared online, the comments of the analyst were deemed racist by several Internet users.
Remember that Thomas Trudel, 16, was returning home Sunday evening after an outing to the park when he was shot dead close to his house, in Saint-Michel. The reasons remain unknown and no arrests have so far been reported, three days after the tragedy. An individual reportedly shot in his direction after a brief verbal exchange; the teenager was then shot in the upper body. It was a witness at the scene who called 911. It was the 31e murder to occur in Montreal this year.