Two Sud-Ouest Shootings Investigated

Two attempted murders which happened hours (and mere blocks) from each other are investigated in Little Burgundy (Borough Sud-Ouest), La Presse reports.

According to La Presse, the police are investigating the attacks looking for a possible link between the two. The teenagers injured in the shootings are not cooperating.

The first of the shootings occured at a housing project located at 625 rue Georges-Vanier. According to the residents, the building (which is reserved, in theory, for the elderly) has been actively used by drug addicts for about a year.

There's been an increase in violence in the neighbourhood this year with previous shootings occurring in January and July. Some residents fear that a drug-related gang war may have started in the neighbourhood. The article quotes Marc Ouimet, a UofM criminologist as saying that the illegal drug market in the borough of Sud-Ouest has for a long time been controlled by Jamaican street gangs.

Sources and Links

• Deux tentatives de meurtre en 24 heures (La Presse; in French)