Firearms incidents, which have become more commonplace in recent years in the City of Laval’s otherwise tranquil residential neighbourhoods, were the focus of a complaint made by a Duvernay resident to city council during its May 6 public meeting.
Michel Saintonge said he wanted to talk about two recent murder attempts in Duvernay’s Val-des-Arbres sector, the first one having taken place around three weeks earlier. The Laval Police found spent ammunition cartridges in the parking lot as well as the yard of a nearby elementary school.
“I find this truly unacceptable, to say the least.” he said. “The next time somebody will be killed. I hope it won’t be a child. But we’re going to do what?”
Speaking on behalf of Mayor Stéphane Boyer (who was absent for personal reasons) Sainte-Dorothée city councillor Ray Khalil, the executive-committee vice-president, insisted the city and the Laval Police “make every effort to reassure citizens.”
Former Chomedey MNA Guy Ouellette, who handed out recognition medals during his time in office, was one of two people who were presented with the King Charles III Coronation Medal by Canadian senator Claude Carignan in Saint-Eustache in April. It was in recognition of Ouellette’s many years of service in the National Assembly as well as in law enforcement.
Ouellette served for more than 30 years as a provincial police officer and crime investigator with the Sûreté du Québec. He was the Member of the National Assembly for Chomedey from 2007 until 2022. “I accept this recognition with pride and humility,” Ouellette said in a message posted on his LinkedIn feed.
In local police and court news, the truck driver found responsible for the August 2019 fiery multi-vehicle pile-up on Autoroute 440 near the A-15 in Laval which killed four people was sentenced to a decade in prison.
On Aug. 5, 2019, Jagmeet Grewal was driving a transport truck and a 53-foot trailer without a valid license, when he crashed into stopped traffic as he was travelling around 100 km/h, causing a major fire, while trapping some occupants in their cars.
The crash killed Robert Tanguay-Plante, Sylvain Pouliot, Michèle Bernier and Gilles Marsolais, while injuring 15 others.
“Innocent victims that were at the wrong place at the wrong time perished and others were severely injured and are still carrying their pain and sufferings,” Superior Court Justice Yanick Laramée wrote in a ruling prior to imposing the sentence.
