Denis Leblanc wanted to cause “carnage”. Above all, he wanted to kill policewomen. Women first. His firearms and ammunition were ready. When his two sisters arrive, Denis Leblanc shoots them in cold blood. His next target: a neighbor who had rejected him. Then the last stand. A shooting in the middle of the street in front of the police.
Published at 2:30 p.m.
At least that's the theory the Crown is hoping to prove in Denis Leblanc's trial, which began Monday at the Montreal courthouse. The 63-year-old is accused of the premeditated murder of his sisters Diane and Sylvie Leblanc as well as the attempted murder of his neighbor Lina Petrilli and police officers Patrick Rochon and Sébastien Houle.
Early October 2020. Denis Leblanc lives on Ontario Street in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district. The day or two before the murders, he mentioned to a friend that his guns were loaded and drawn. The man is very clear in his intentions.
“ [Il lui dit] : When the police show up, they shoot them. When police show up, he will shoot the women first,” prosecutor Pierre-Olivier Bolduc told the jury in his opening statement.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Crown Prosecutor I Pierre-Olivier Bolduc in 2020
October 3rd. Fateful day. Denis Leblanc talks to a neighbor. He tells her that there will be “carnage in the alley.” Like his friend the day before, he tells the neighbor that he will shoot the policewomen. Denis Leblanc doesn't stop there. He shows the neighbor a hunting weapon and ammunition and tells him that there are other weapons positioned near the doors and windows inside.
“His sisters will be arriving shortly. The first two women the defendant meets on his way that morning are Diane and Sylvie. And they are the first two victims,” says Me Bolduc.
After a brief discussion, Denis Leblanc shot his sister Diane, 61, in the cheek, according to the Crown. He then shoots his sister Sylvie, 56 years old. You have no chance.
“But that’s not the end of it. He continues his bloodbath,” says Mr. Bolduc.
Denis Leblanc climbs over the bodies and then sets his sights on his neighbor Lina Petrilli, a woman he was interested in but who had rejected his advances, the Crown said. The defendant breaks into Lina Petrilli's apartment, breaks down the door and opens fire. According to the evidence, Lina narrowly escaped the worst and took refuge with a neighbor.
Denis Leblanc leaves his building, hunting weapon in hand. At the same moment the police arrive and barricade themselves on the street corner. “His wish to shoot policewomen will not come true. Only men are present. “Four police officers on duty,” says the Crown prosecutor, working with Katerine Brabant.
The defendant opened fire on the police twice. Eventually he was hit in one leg and fell to the ground.
The Crown's first witness, SPVM officer Janie St-Hilaire, told the jury about the discovery of the Leblanc sisters' bodies. From the alley, the policewoman saw a body curled up on the spiral staircase outside. On the way there she meets another body at the foot of the balcony. In both cases the deaths are obvious. The scene is covered in blood.
Officer St-Hilaire continues her search for victims in the apartment. She notices a first hunting weapon hanging on the bedroom wall. Then in another room a second hunting weapon and “carefully” placed ammunition.
“I said to myself: It was like a hunting blind. “It was someone who had prepared,” the police officer testified.
I Alexandre Garel and I François Létourneau-Prézeau defend the defendant.