Three people appeared in Montreal court to face charges indirectly related to a series of shootings in the city's north end more than a week ago.
The arrests made yesterday are a result of an investigation into a robbery and extortion attempt made at a café on July 7, said Montreal police Constable Anie Lemieux.The robbery is suspected of setting off events that led to three people being shot in less than two hours the night of July 23.
The first victim, a 30-year-old drug trafficker with ties to the Bo Gars street gang, was shot inside Le Ritz, a café-bar in St. Léonard. A little over an hour later, a man walked into Mare e Mondo, a café in Rivières des Prairies with ties to the Montreal Mafia, and opened fire, striking a 36-year-old man who is believed to have been an innocent bystander. Shortly afterward, a 19-year-old man was shot as he sat in a vehicle parked behind another café in Rivière des Prairies. He also was believed to be an innocent victim.
All three men suffered non-life-threatening wounds.Police later speculated that the 30-year-old street-gang member was shot July 23 because of the robbery earlier in the month.Lemieux said one of the suspects arrested yesterday, a 28-year-old man, was tasered after resisting arrest when the vehicle he was in was pulled over near Henri Bourassa Blvd and Highway 25. A 29-year-old female passenger was also arrested.
The third person, a 29-year-old man, was arrested at his home in Montreal North.
Lemieux said all three face possible charges of extortion, armed robbery, weapons offences and drug possession.
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