Four young men, including two minors, were arrested last night not far from the residence of the fallen entrepreneur Tony Accurso, in Deux-Montagnes, in possession of incendiary material.
Around 2:30 a.m., patrol officers from the Régie de police du Lac des Deux-Montagnes intercepted a car transporting the suspects “whose behavior seemed suspicious to them” in the area of 15e Avenue, said police spokesman Jean-Philippe Labbé.
“During the interception, they noticed the presence of material that could be used to start a fire. Considering that we were in the sector of the 15e Avenue and that there had been two arson attacks there earlier this summer and shootings, they proceeded to arrest the four occupants of the vehicle,” he explained.
The four suspects, two 18-year-olds and two 17-year-olds, were questioned by investigators and then released on conditions and a promise to appear. None of them had a criminal record or were police officers.
Tony Accurso interviewed
“We are currently meeting Mr. Accurso to find out if he has received threats or if he has information to give us in connection with the events of this night”, specifies Jean-Philippe Labbé. Recall that relatives of the real estate magnate residing in the same street as him have been targeted by various misdeeds for several months.
“We have reason to believe that it is [chez Tony Accurso] that [les suspects] were leaving,” he adds.
PHOTO RYAN REMIORZ, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Tony Accurso in 2017
Police have not disclosed the nature of the incendiary material the suspects had in their possession at the time of their arrest.
The Lac des Deux-Montagnes Police Authority will submit a file to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) so that the four young people are charged with conspiracy and possession of incendiary material.
For the moment, we do not know why they would have wanted to attack Tony Accurso or his residence.
A wave of misdeeds
A business dispute between members of Tony Accurso’s family involved in a construction company was the main hypothesis studied by investigators from the Lac des Deux-Montagnes Police Department to explain the wave of misdeeds targeting children in the fallen entrepreneur, had reported The Press last October.
It began last July, when the white Range Rover SUV belonging to the wife of Tony Accurso’s son, Giovanni, was targeted by an arsonist.
Then, on August 24, shots were fired at the neighboring house, without causing any injuries.
Two days later, more shots were fired, this time at Giovanni Accurso’s residence, just hours after Tony Accurso contacted The Press to say that he was not the target of these attacks.
In mid-October, it was then the residence of his daughter Lisa and Karol Fortin that was completely destroyed by fire.
Traces of an accelerant were found. The couple no longer lived in the house, rented, but unoccupied at the time of the disaster. Moreover, most of the time, during the misdeeds, the occupants were not present in the residences.