Longueuil police spotted suspect
While Montreal cops sent an armoured vehicle, canine squads and an army of 200 officers to Côte-des-Neiges on Thursday evening, two eagleeyed Longueuil police officers with a computer printout spotted Michel Duchaussoy, suspected of shooting a cab driver, ambling down a Boucherville street at 7 p.m.
Duchaussoy was the object of a manhunt as a suspect in the murder of Ziad Bouzil, 45, shot behind the wheel of his Diamond Taxi at the corner of Darlington Ave. shortly after midnight Wednesday.
Constable Martin Simard with the Longueuil police said all the officers had been provided with a photo of the wanted man, and two officers in a cruiser driving down the commercial street about 7 p.m. realized the man police sought was right there walking on the Nobel St. sidewalk
On Friday, Duschaussoy, 42, was charged with second degree-murder.
He wore a winter coat and his hands were shackled during a brief appearance in a Montreal courtroom. He stood quietly before being remanded to the Bordeaux provincial detention centre in Rivière-des-Prairies until his next court appearance on Jan. 23.
Montreal police have also questioned a woman of about 50 who investigators say is “an important witness” in the case.
She boarded Bouzid’s taxi in Dorval along with Duchaussoy and is co-operating with homicide investigators, said Commander Patrice Carrier of the majorcrimes squad.
“The two separated after the crime was committed,” Carrier said.
Based on information collected to date, he said, the woman has not been charged. “That doesn’t mean the situation won’t change,” he added.
She does not have a criminal record.
The motive for the killing remains unclear, Carrier said.
“We can, however, discard the theory that the motive was theft. Robbery was not a motive.”
A shotgun police believe was used in the killing is in the hands of investigators, he said.
Duchaussoy was questioned “all evening and all night,” Carrier said, after having been picked up by Longueuil police about 7 p.m. Thursday.
Police will not divulge the nature of the relationship between Duchaussoy and the witness.
Carrier did say investiga- tors have been able to determine that Duchaussoy and Bouzid did not know each other before the cab ride.
Shortly after midnight Wednesday, Bouzid was transported to hospital with a head wound after his taxi crashed into a parked car on Darlington Ave. near CôteSte-Catherine Rd.
Police were called to the scene after his cab was — incorrectly — reported to be on fire, Carrier said.
Officers arrived to find Bouzid alone, behind the wheel, mortally wounded.
A father of three, he was declared dead in a nearby hospital.
A large police manhunt sought Duchaussoy at various locations in Côte-desNeiges and Snowdon Thursday evening, treating the search as if he was armed.
“We also had information that the suspect may have been on the South Shore,” Carrier said.
“That led us to ask for assistance of the Longueuil police,” who eventually spotted Duchaussoy and arrested him.