A first step has been taken in the case of the murder of the teenager Meriem Boundaoui, killed at the age of 15 in February 2021 in the borough of Saint-Léonard. A first suspect was arrested on Monday, but the investigation by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) has only just begun.
Salim Touaibi, 26, was charged at the Montreal courthouse in connection with the murder of the teenager. She found herself in the middle of a shootout while sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car.
The suspect had already been detained in a provincial center since March in connection with another case of violence and possession of a firearm. He appeared briefly on Monday afternoon and will be back in court on July 22 to face charges of first degree murder, in addition to four attempted murders.
Although satisfactory for the investigators, who have been working on this file for more than 16 months, this arrest does not represent a result for the SPVM, since the suspect did not act alone.
“What I can confirm to you is that we know that the arrested suspect was not alone and that he participated directly. This is why he was charged with first degree murder,” SPVM commander Salvatore Serrao said at a press conference, emphasizing the word “directly.”
In order not to harm the continuation of the investigation which is still in progress, Commander Serrao has been sparing in commenting on the details which led to the arrest of the suspect.
No question for him to confirm that Salim Touaibi is the one who opened fire on the teenager, nor if the vehicle used by the attackers has been found.
In the wrong place at the wrong time
The murder of Meriem Boundaoui took place around 6 p.m. on rue Valdombre, not far from rue Jean-Talon, in the borough of Saint-Léonard on Sunday February 7, 2021.
She was in a parked car with a young man, who was chatting with people on the edge of the street. That’s when another car approached and shots were fired.
Meriem Boundaoui was shot and rushed to hospital. She eventually succumbed to her injuries and the police announced her death the following morning.
A man on the sidewalk was also shot in the upper body. According to witnesses at the scene, the argument at the origin of the shots would have broken out between the passengers of the suspect vehicle and the people on the sidewalk.
Even if the details surrounding this dispute were not disclosed by the police, Commander Serrao was clear: Meriem Boundaoui had “nothing to do” in this altercation.
“We know that it was a conflict between two groups of individuals. What I can confirm to you is that young Meriem had nothing to do with the conflict and was not connected to the two groups,” he said.
According to what the SPVM had reported the day after the shooting, two men were in the suspect vehicle, but they were wearing masks, making it difficult for the police to obtain an accurate description.
long-term work
Asked about the 16-month delay between the murder of the teenager and the first arrest in this case, Commander Serrao defended the SPVM’s investigation process.
“The strength of a police investigation is really thoroughness,” he said. Rigor is not something you can do quickly, it’s something that takes time.
“In order not to lose our suspect, to do justice to the families, we take our time and we do things well. »
On a more personal note, Mr. Serrao acknowledged that the arrest of the “murderer of a young girl, in a residential area”, brings a lot of pride to the investigators, who are completely devoted to their work in this type of case. .
But the time is not yet to party at the SPVM, since the investigation to find other potential suspects continues. The police also invite people who may have information on this shooting to contact Info-Crime.
“Any information you give us could be the missing piece of the puzzle,” Commander Serrao told the people.