Montreal police killing triggers riot
Officer kills one teen, wounds two others in altercation at park
Aug 11, 2008 04:30 AM
MONTREAL–Cars were set on fire and stores were vandalized in a Montreal neighbourhood last night as violence erupted following the shooting of a young man by police a day earlier.
A police officer was reportedly shot in the leg in the same neighbourhood where the man was killed by police in a local park.
Several blazes were set in the same neighbourhood.
The city's police riot squad were deployed late yesterday to deal with the demonstrators.
The shot officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
A police patrol in a Montreal park turned ugly Saturday night when an officer opened fire on three young people, killing one man and wounding two others.
A man of 18, identified by his sister as Freddy Alberto Villanueva, died in hospital from his wounds.
The other two, an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old, were reported to be in stable condition.
Montreal police say the officers were trying to arrest an individual during a routine police intervention in Henri Bourassa Park in the Montreal district of Montreal North when they were surrounded by a group of about 20 youths.
A few individuals are said to have broken away from the group and rushed the officers.
According to police, it was then that one officer opened fire. No officers were wounded in that incident.
Quebec provincial police are investigating the incident and are interviewing witnesses.
“We do think there are many witnesses because, at that time, around 7 p.m., there were a lot of people in the park or in the surroundings of the park,” said provincial police spokesperson Gregory Gomez del Prado.
According to police, there is currently no information on the reasons behind the police intervention and attempted arrest.
“It's too early to say what happened exactly,” said Gomez del Prado. “We're talking about the death of a man. It's a major investigation.”
Villanueva’s sister, Julissa, said in an interview from her home in the Montreal suburb of Laval, that the family is waiting for answers.
“We only know what we see in the news, in the newspapers, that's all,” she said, breaking into tears as she spoke about her brother, a student who wanted to become a mechanic.
