“Yeah, yeah, I took two in the leg”, explains, on the telephone, a man injured by projectiles. He was then on a stretcher aboard an ambulance, escorted by the police. He connects audio and video conversations on the phone, despite his calf pierced by two bullets.
What there is to know
- On the night of Sunday June 18 to Monday June 19, the police intervened for a drive-by shooting (drive by shooting) occurred near the café-bar Sasha, in Saint-Léonard.
- A total of 11 casings were found on the scene. The establishment, where a party was being held on the occasion of the Grand Prix, was crowded.
- Two men aged 24 and 28 were shot. Both victims are known to the police.
- The Sasha bar is temporarily closed after an emergency summons to the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux.
At least that’s the astonishing story set out in the police report related to the shooting in Saint-Léonard last week.
Today is June 19. The man in question has just “taken casings. Kevin Monereau-Lahens is only 28 years old and has already been the subject of two attempted murders: one in 2015 and the other in 2017. The third, which occurred on the night of Sunday to Monday during the weekend of the Grand Prix, the leash of ice.
In the direction of the hospital, Monereau-Lahens calls a friend. “Yo, are you pozé*, my brother? said the latter, loud enough for the SPVM agent to hear. “Yeah, yeah, I took two in the leg,” replies the injured man.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Crime scene after the shooting near the Sasha café-bar, in Saint-Léonard
He then calls another friend to chat, according to the occurrence report obtained by The Press detailing his reaction right after the fact.
“I don’t know, I took casings. Don’t speak, my brother, they [les policiers] will hear you speak! I don’t know who the other one took! I’m in the ambulance! “, Continues the seriously injured young man.
His conversations don’t end there. Monereau-Lahens calls a woman. ” I’m goodmy leg just hurts, stop crying, baby, my foot just hurts,” he said.
He is significantly less talkative when approached by the police, according to the summary. “I have nothing to say, I have nothing to say,” he says to the agent present during his transport to the hospital.
He then starts a FaceTime call with a friend.
“Monereau has no reaction, fear, or contempt for the situation,” notes the officer in charge of the report. However, the event of which he was the victim is not insignificant for ordinary mortals. He is one of two people shot at during a festive evening held at the Sasha café-bar to close the Grand Prix weekend. THE party ended abruptly for the fifty or so guests. The establishment on rue Bélanger was crowded when one or more suspects aboard a BMW fired more than a dozen projectiles.
In total, 11 casings line the ground, according to the summary of the facts filed with the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux.
“It’s cool”
The multiple telephone conversations of the injured person continue on his hospital bed, where an agent still hears him talking. “I’m tired, I want to go smoke and go bong**… There, it’s the other leg, I’m not lucky with my legs… But it’s chill, I’m not an athlete, ”explains Monereau-Lahens.
He doesn’t want the police to listen. He asks the medical staff to close the door. “At one point, a hospital employee comes [lui] speak and seems to explain that the reason for the police presence is its safety”, specifies the report of the event.
” I know the drill*** “, simply retorts the victim to the employee.
The victim is considered by the authorities to be linked to street gangs in Montreal North, an area bogged down in a conflict with its rivals in Rivière-des-Prairies. The bloody dispute has caused a lot of ink to flow over the past two years.
Another 24-year-old man known to police, Likendy Clauberson Corvil, was shot on the evening of June 19.
The suspect(s) fled after the shooting. There have been no arrests in this case at this time.
The Sasha bar temporarily closed
The shooting near the Sasha café-bar raised authorities’ fears of other violent events: the Saint-Léonard restaurant in which the two men were shot during the weekend of the Formula 1 Grand Prix will be temporarily closed, according to a joint suggestion presented to the tribunal of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ).
“In the current context, the pursuit of activities endangers the lives of others,” said the Régie’s lawyer, Mr.e Guillaume Dutil-Lachance, before administrative judge Natalia Ouellette.
“The regular presence of individuals linked to street gangs at the establishment makes it a potential prime target,” explained investigator Sandro Di Matteo, from the Morality section of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM). .
After an emergency summons to the Régie, an agreement between the two parties was filed last Thursday: the place is temporarily closing. His liquor license will also be suspended until further notice.
According to court documents seen by The Pressthe bar is frequented regularly by people gravitating around a Montreal North street gang.
“My client is not a policeman. [Les clients] it’s not marked street gang on their face,” said Franco Schiro, lawyer for Joseph Cecere, owner of the Sasha bar. The latter voluntarily closed his establishment during the days following the event, he added.
Police officer Sandro Matteo said that the Eclipse team had notified the owner of the presence of individuals linked to the crime in his restaurant.
Authorities do not currently know if the injured were the targets of shots fired from a moving car. The two victims are known to the police and were seen at the establishment a few times in the months preceding the shooting, can we read in the emergency summons. They have multiple violent crime and firearms criminal records.
According to documents filed in court, Ritchi Magloire Cantave and Samir Zouad Ali, two of the individuals present during another shooting event at the Sharky’s bar in Ahuntsic-Cartierville last January, were also at the café bar Sasha the evening of shooting.
Tensions in the establishment, according to the police
The SPVM’s Eclipse group, responsible for traveling through licensed establishments to gather information, has visited the Sasha café bar several times in the past.
Last April, the squad burst into the bar in the middle of the night. Its members then observed several individuals with a history of firearms. “The atmosphere was very tense during the intervention of the police when several customers of the bar surrounded them”, we read in the summary of the facts.
“It turns out that the establishment was the target of two arson attempts on May 13 and 14, 2021 without these having been reported to the police. No cooperation was offered by those responsible for the establishment in the context of the investigation,” according to a summary of the facts in the notice of summons.
* Are you pozé? = Are you okay?
** bong = kiss
*** I know the drill = I know the song
With the collaboration of Daniel Renaud, The Press