Four suspects linked to criminal gangs, two of whom were already in custody, were arrested Wednesday morning in connection with two murders committed in Quebec in the summer of 2023.
A 32-year-old man killed in Charlemagne, Que., — just off the eastern tip of the island of Montreal – was allegedly shot by mistake on June 16, 2023, while sitting in his parked vehicle. Quebec provincial police have called that homicide a case of mistaken identity.
Police allege the suspects then killed their real target in Montreal nearly two months later. On Aug. 7, 2023, a 28-year-old man was fatally shot downtown, on Sainte-Catherine Street.
“This man could have been the real target of the murder committed less than two months earlier in Charlemagne,” Montreal police (SPVM) said in a news release. “The major crimes section of the SPVM and the SQ have joined their investigation projects due to the possible link between these two homicides.”
The suspects will appear remotely over the next 24 hours to face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Two of the suspects, aged 25 and 28, were already incarcerated for separate cases at the time of their arrest. A third suspect, a 24-year-old man, was arrested in Edmonton, while the fourth, a 32-year-old man, was arrested in Terrebonne, Que.
The Edmonton Police Service and the RCMP participated in the operations that led to the arrest of the suspects.
–With files from La Presse Canadienne