Assisted by surveillance cameras that spared no effort, it took the Serious Crimes Investigators of the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) barely a month to arrest the two men suspected of being Maxime Lenoir’s killers, who was shot dead on August 23 in the Center Rockland parking lot, Mount Royal.
Updated yesterday at 5:20pm.
Daniel Renaud LaPresse
This crime had had major repercussions in the metropolis, especially since less than half an hour later another murder unrelated to Mr Lenoir’s had been committed in a restaurant on Saint-Denis Street in Montreal.
According to our information, the two suspects arrested in the murder of Maxime Lenoir are a 33-year-old Vancouver police man who opened fire and a 29-year-old Montrealer who was arrested in Ottawa, who would have been the driver of the vehicle with which the crime was committed. The latter would be known to the SPVM and neighboring police forces.
The two men charged with first-degree murder are expected to appear at the Montreal courthouse this Friday.
As far as we know, at least one camera captured the scene when the murder was committed.
IMAGE OF THE PRESS
The shooter, on the right between two cars, opens fire on the victim. The scene was captured by a camera. The suspects’ vehicle, a dark-colored Mazda6, was parked near Maxime Lenoir.
After the crime, the suspects left their vehicle, a Mazda6, on Canora Road in Mont-Royal, about a kilometer from Center Rockland.
They tried unsuccessfully to light it. The next day, police discovered the car and confiscated the murder weapon and some items of clothing, we are told.
Let’s just say that investigators went through a lot of security camera footage and analyzed it to find the suspects so quickly.
A source that La Presse has confided in
“Montreal’s sense of security was shattered on August 23 when two gun homicides, half an hour apart, occurred in broad daylight. Today, thanks to the rigorous work of investigators and specialist teams, we are pleased to confirm the arrests related to the first incident at the Rockland Centre. Regarding the Saint-Denis street murder, I can confirm that the police investigation is ongoing and that our investigators are stepping up their investigative efforts,” said SPVM interim director Sophie Roy.
Independent importer
Police believed Maxime Lenoir to be a cocaine importer with links to bikers, the mafia and organized crime in the Middle East.
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After the suspect emptied his magazine, the dark-colored vehicle pulled away from its spot in the parking lot. The suspect got back in and the car left the scene for Canora Road.
In June 2020, Lenoir’s Terrebonne residence had been ransacked by Sûreté du Québec investigators as part of an investigation that had led to the dismantling of one of the largest clandestine methamphetamine labs ever discovered in the province.
In terms of cocaine imports, Lenoir had reportedly made contacts in South America and was considered independent by the police.
In March 2017, a small plane carrying 130 kilograms of cocaine, piloted by two Quebecers, landed in Ohio, USA.
A month later, an investigator from the SPVM’s Organized Crime Unit told the court that one of the suspects behind this importation – a person with ties to organized crime in the Middle East – met Maxime Lenoir in Laval.
Guilt following an aborted importation into the United States could reportedly be one of the hypotheses behind Lenoir’s murder, which has every semblance of a reckoning in the organized crime world.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514.285-7000, extension 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the La Presse mailing address.