The SQ confirmed the identity of the sergeant killed on duty early Tuesday morning. This is Maureen Breau who had just over 20 years of experience. This mother was assigned to the post of MRC de Maskinongé.
In a press release, the organization confirmed that another police officer was injured, but that the officer’s life is not in danger.
The events took place in downtown Louiseville on Saint-Laurent Avenue at the intersection of Saint-Aimé Street.
According to the Independent Investigations Bureau (BEI), the organization responsible for investigating police operations in which one person was injured or killed, two SQ officers arrived at around 8:30 p.m. to investigate the arrest of one person for making threats .
The perpetrator is said to have grabbed a knife and pointed it at the police. He would have severely hit an officer who carried out the arrest. A second pair of police officers dispatched to the scene would then have fired at the person’s spot, fatally wounding them.
According to our information, when an officer read him his rights, the man stabbed the policewoman, who then fell from the roof of the second floor.
The BEI is investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, while the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) is conducting criminal investigations into the events.
The Service de Police de Montréal (SPVM) command post arrived in Louiseville on Tuesday morning.
Photo: Radio Canada / Martin Chabot
Shocked neighbors
The residents of the building were cared for by the Red Cross. They were transferred to a hotel overnight. Stéphane Caron, a neighbor who witnessed the events, is still in shock and even wants to move. He was getting out his trash cans when the police operation took place. He heard the shots.
Stéphane Caron lives in the same building as the person who was shot dead by police in Louiseville on Monday night.
Photo: Radio Canada
According to him, the suspect had mental problems. The policewoman’s death seems unfair to him.
” [Elle] did its job and it backfired. »
— A quote from Stéphane Caron, resident of Louiseville
The police world in mourning
These are difficult times. Members of the Sûreté du Québec are in mourning, said Patrice Cardinal, director of the SQ’s communications and international relations department. He said police in the area have provided assistance.
According to Mr. Cardinal, Ms. Breau’s spouse works for the Sûreté du Québec in Trois-Rivières.
The director of the SQ also said that Maureen Breau would be honored. He specified that the sergeant was an operations manager at the Maskinongé MRC station and that she was therefore in charge of the patrol teams on the evening of the tragedy.
The Director General of the Sûreté du Québec, Johanne Beausoleil, sent a note to the members of the organization last night. Such an ordeal reminds us of the dangerousness of the police profession in the face of extreme situations, such as those that Sergeant Breau, his police colleagues and the telecommunications forces had to go through, one could read there in particular.
With information from Karine Bastien