Jean Lafrenière and his wife Pauline were a united couple. The citizens of Amqui saw them walking downtown with a smile almost every day, but tragedy struck.
• Also read: Steve Gagnon booed upon his arrival at the Amqui courthouse
• Also read: Drama in Amqui: According to a neighbor, the suspect showed “strange behavior”.
• Also read: Vehicle ramming: “We don’t want to experience that again,” regrets Yves-François Blanchet
Mr Lafrenière is one of the two victims of the truck ramming attack. His wife Pauline, who was by his side as usual, suffered serious leg injuries. Beyond all this suffering, she lost her accomplice.
Photo by Jean Lafrenière’s Facebook
A few steps from the crime scene, Daniel Thériault, a friend of the couple, looks into the distance and still can’t believe his eyes.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Daniel Thériault (photo) was a friend of the victim Jean Lafrenière and his wife Pauline, according to him an inseparable couple.
Cars from the Sûreté du Québec, dozens of journalists, a city center that is no longer a shadow of what it was almost 24 hours ago, Mr. Thériault is also suffering.
“I saw her going for walks regularly, they were always together. Pauline and Jean were in great physical condition, they went camping in the summer, it’s terrible what’s happening,” he says with tears in his eyes.
He says the couple have started looking for a new home for the sunny days. The longtime lovers considered leaving their homeland, but the two were keen on their peaceful city.
“The dramas mostly take place in the big centers,” can be heard on site.
“Pauline called me just last week because they were looking for an apartment. They wanted to stay here, they loved Amqui,” he says.
Daniel Thériault, a retired paramedic, has seen accidents and injuries, but this time it’s different.
It’s no coincidence, it’s a voluntary gesture that he can’t explain, and a sense of anger fills him.
“I don’t know Steve Gagnon. What I see is a man driving a truck that hit children and people. If he was ill, we will treat him, but if he is found guilty of doing it willfully, in my opinion, there is no punishment severe enough, ”the man confides.
Jeremy Bernier
Mr Thériault also paid tribute to Gérald Charest, whom he also knew. He notes the friendliness of the man who has long worked as a landscaper for a contractor in Amqui.
“It wasn’t that long ago that he retired. I still see him in his tractor, he always had a big smile. You could see he was happy, he felt he had achieved something. When he left, he waved to everyone,” he recalls.
The CEO of Fabrique d’Amqui also had good words for Mr. Charest. “He was an everyday volunteer when not working. […] He’s a gentleman, always smiling, good humored, very generous,” Jeanne D’Arc described to Voyer.