Amqui drama: a premeditated attack, confirms the SQ
The Sûreté du Québec has set up a command post in Amqui in order to shed light on the events that took place on Monday.
The actions that would have been committed by Steeve Gagnon in Amqui on Monday afternoon were premeditated, confirms the Sûreté du Québec. The authorities also specify that the two people who lost their lives in the tragedy are Gérald Charest and Jean Lafrenière, aged 65 and 73 respectively.
The investigation also tends to show that people were randomly targeted, said SQ spokesperson Claude Doiron. We do not know the motives, the state of mind [of the suspect] at the time of the gestures, he said during a press briefing on Tuesday morning.
Highway 132 is still closed in the area and the police do not know when it will reopen.
Steeve Gagnon was driving a pickup truck that mowed down nine people Monday afternoon on Route 132. Six injured people were transferred to Quebec City. Three of them, including a child under one year old and another three years old, are stable and under observation, indicates the deputy director of communications of the CHU de Québec. Three other patients are in critical condition. One person is still hospitalized at Amqui Hospital.
The 38-year-old suspect is scheduled to appear at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the courthouse in Amqui. ;Amqui.
Steeve Gagnon is scheduled to appear at the Amqui courthouse on Tuesday.
The day after the events, many members of the community, including elected officials, expressed their incomprehension.
The two people who lost their lives, whose identity was revealed during the morning, were known to the population of Amqui. It's sad because they are very kind people, comments an Amquian, Dany Petrie, met Tuesday morning.
“We don' #x27;is safer than anywhere. »
— Dany Pétrie, resident of Amqui
Warning : the next testimony could shock some readers.
Another Amqui resident, Ken Moreau, narrowly escaped an attack on the streets of Amqui on Monday afternoon. In an interview at First the info, he said that the driver of the van never braked at the sight of the pedestrians he was about to hit; he rather accelerated in order to cause as many victims as possible on Saint-Benoît Boulevard.
After that, I heard the cries of the little girl who was stuck in the stroller, […] with her grandmother underneath, he describes with great emotion. Then it wasn't long before the driver turned around. I saw him come back to the scene in the opposite direction then I shouted at everyone, explains Mr. Moreau.
Another witness, Michel Lapierre recounts with amazement that his neighbor and her two children were hit by the driver. The mother and the two children are my immediate neighbor, he says.
[I feel] confused, it's incredible. Everyone knows each other here. […] In that, I know 4-5, he testifies.
Michel Lapierre witnessed the tragedy that occurred on Monday afternoon on Saint-Benoît Boulevard West.
Classes are suspended on Tuesday at Armand-Saint-Onge high school in Amqui, as well as at Sainte-Ursule elementary school. Psychosocial services will be offered as soon as classes resume in each establishment of the Center de services scolaire (CSS) Monts-et-Marées.
All students and staff members who express the need can be accompanied by professionals.
Our hearts go out to the people of Amqui. All our hope and comfort to the families and close friends affected by the tragedy, writes the director general of the CSS Monts-et-Marées, Alexandre Marion, in a press release.
CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent spokesperson Gilles Turmel adds that psychosocial assistance is available to the community. We can all react differently, but it can be in the subsequent days that we will have some backlash, he said. There are backup staff who have been added and we can take your calls, we can take the time to listen to you, to talk, to offer you support, adds Mr. Turmel.
The CHU de Québec mentioned during a press briefing at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning that the ambulance jets transported immediate family members of the six pedestrians to Quebec. They are currently receiving psychological support.
The management of the Bas-Saint-Laurent Integrated Health and Social Services Center update on Monday's tragedy in Amqui.
A van mowed down several pedestrians on Saint-Benoît Boulevard West, in Amqui, Bas-Saint-Laurent, on Monday afternoon. According to the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), the suspect was arrested for murder and for a fatal hit-and-run.
Police searched the suspect's home on Tuesday morning.
Six people were transferred to the Enfant-Jésus Hospital, a tertiary trauma center for Eastern Quebec. According to the spokesperson for the Bas-Saint-Laurent Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS), Gilles Turmel, one person is still hospitalized at the Amqui Hospital.
The SQ set up a command post in Amqui at the end of the evening. Several dozen police officers from major crimes and crimes against the person from across Quebec were dispatched to the scene as reinforcements. It is now a homicide investigation.
With the collaboration of Isabelle Damphousse, Sophie Martin, Michel-Félix Tremblay and ;Isabelle Lévesque
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