Old Montreal fire: Three arrested after shots fired at owner’s office

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Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante wished to reassure citizens of Old Montreal after shots were fired at a building in Old Montreal late Tuesday.

Three men were arrested after police received reports of gunfire that targeted the building owned by Emile Benamor, located on Berri St., in between St-Louis and St-Antoine Sts. Benamor, is a Montreal defence lawyer who also owns the building on Notre Dame St. E. where a mother and her seven-year-old daughter died last week in a fire. Benamor’s name first made headlines in March 2023, as he is the owner of Place d’Youville in Old Montreal where seven people died in a raging fire.

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Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant said that, just before midnight Tuesday, many calls were made to 911. The callers reported hearing gunshots near the corner of Berri St and St-Antoine St., near Viger Square in the borough of Ville-Marie.

“According to information obtained by witnesses, it seems that a white van was seen fleeing rapidly following the gunshots. That vehicle was located and intercepted by police officers at René-Lévesque (Blvd.) near Saguinet St.,” Brabant said. “Once the vehicle came to a stop, it started to move again heading west on René-Lévesque before being stopped again at the corner of Hôtel-de-Ville Ave. and Boisbriand St.”

Three men, aged 17, 19 and 20, were arrested. When the vehicle was searched, police found a firearm inside.

The trio were taken in for questioning.

The two adults who were arrested appeared before a Quebec Court judge Tuesday afternoon through a videoconference at the Montreal courthouse. Despite their young ages they already have significant criminal records.

Rayann Olsen Kimbatsa, 20, of Montreal, recently completed an eight-month sentence he received this year at a courthouse in Granby. He was convicted of armed robbery, forcible confinement and conspiracy and received an 18-month sentence overall and was left with eight months to serve when he was sentenced on Feb. 5.

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On Wednesday, he was ordered to remain detained until Thursday, when his case enters the bail hearing stage.

The other adult arrested after the shooting, Michel Manueli Likeng Mbappé, 19, is a resident of the St-Laurent borough. He was sentenced in April, at the Montreal courhouse, to a 90-day prison term, to be followed by 18 months of probation, after he pleaded guilty to being in possession of a master automobile key and possession of property obtained by crime.

Mbappé was also ordered to remain detained until at least Friday.

Plante said residents of Old Montreal should rest assured that police are on top of the matter.

“People are worried, and it is worrisome,” Plante said. “I understand that citizens have questions, and I want to tell them that we are preoccupied. Police also take this very seriously, and they have been working to adapt as criminals also change their methods.”

The building targeted on Tuesday is also the one Benamor lists as his law office with the Quebec Bar Association. Montreal police crime scene technicians could be seen outside the building Wednesday morning and it appeared more than a dozen shots were fired. The technicians placed markings on 17 spots on the building apparently damaged by bullets and they placed 16 tiny flags on the pavement indicating the locations of spent shell casings.

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According to land registry records, Benamor owns at least a dozen buildings on the island of Montreal, including several in the Ville-Marie borough, one in Dorval and another in Westmount.

On Tuesday, the Montreal police said they are still investigating last week’s fire and the DPCP confirmed that two investigations by the Montreal police into the fire at Place d’Youville “are under study” to determine if criminal charges will be filed.

The provincial coroner’s office is investigating the causes of the most recent fire, and the investigation will be done by coroner Géhane Kamel, who is already investigating the first fire at Place d’Youville.

Reached by The Gazette on Wednesday, Benamor’s lawyer Alexandre Bergevin declined to comment, but said his client is “collaborating with the inquiry.”

The city’s opposition was not satisfied with Plante’s reassurance, said Abdelhaq Sari, the Ensemble Montréal spokesperson for public security matters.

“The gunshots, as well as the fires that we saw in the last few months are very worrying,” Sari said. “There is surely a sense of insecurity growing in Montreal and the city has to provide reassurance, about this, and also about the numerous cases of extortion that we have seen.”

The city’s opposition also reiterated the calls it made after the Place d’Youville fire for Plante to mandate the auditor general to investigate the process of granting building permits. On Wedesday, Plante said the auditor is independent from the mayor’s office, so she can’t mandate her to make any investigations. However, she would welcome such a move. Plante added that she’s pleased the coroner is investigating.

“Anything that can clarify and come up with solutions so those tragedies never happen again (is welcome),” Plante said. “Based on those recommendations and data, whatever comes out, we have to do it, because those two tragedies are awful, and my thoughts are with the families of (both incidents).”

jmagder@postmedia.com

pcherry@postmedia.com

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