Assault suspect fatally shot by police

Quebec’s police-oversight bureau has taken over the investigation into the circumstances of a man who was shot dead by Montreal police behind the Old Brewery Mission Friday afternoon after he was suspected of stabbing an individual earlier in the day at another location.

Nine investigators with the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes have been assigned to the case.

The bureau released a statement late Friday afternoon confirming that the man died after being shot by Montreal police officers.

The statement did not indicate the number of officers who confronted the man in an east-west alleyway in back of the homeless shelter on St-Laurent Blvd.

Constable Daniel Lacoursière, a spokesperson for the Montreal Police Department, told journalists on the scene that the man was shot “at least once in the upper body” and was rushed to hospital.

Lacoursière gave journalists a slightly different version of the events leading up to the man’s death than the statement by the investigating bureau.

According to Lacoursière, Montreal police responded to a 911 call at 2:30 p.m. concerning an armed assault that occurred at a building at the southwest corner of St-Urbain St. and René Lévesque Blvd., near the Complexe Guy-Favreau.

“When police officers arrived on the scene, they located a victim, a 37-year-old man, who was wounded in the upper body with a sharp object.”

The police were then tipped off by “citizens (who) were following the suspect,” Lacoursière added. The officers located the suspect in the alleyway, which is actually part of Clark St.

“At a certain moment, it seems that the suspect made a threatening gesture toward the police officers. The suspect was shot at least once in the upper body.”

The police who were involved in the shooting were treated for nervous shock in hospital, as were other officers who tried to revive the suspect.

The stabbing victim was also transported to hospital, but police do not fear for his life.

According to the statement by the bureau, the police officers who responded to the 911 call had been alerted that there had been an attempted murder — not an armed assault — by an assailant who was wielding a knife.

When police located the suspect later in the alleyway, the man was holding a knife in each hand.

“He refused to lay down the knives and charged toward the police,” the bureau said in its statement. “The police fired shots at him.”

Lacoursière told journalists before the bureau took over the investigation that police had not yet identified the suspect.

“I can’t answer to whether he’s a homeless person or not,” he said.

A nurse, who works at the Old Brewery Mission for the Centre hospitalier de l’université de Montréal, said she doesn’t believe the suspect was a client of the shelter.

“We’ve been hearing that this was a drug dealer,” said the nurse, who didn’t want her name published because she was not authorized to speak to the news media.

“We have drug dealers who hang out near the entrance selling drugs to the clients.”