A cameraperson shoots the scene of a fight that left three people dead, on May 22, in Montreal.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
A 15-year-old boy was among the three people stabbed to death during a brawl on Tuesday night in a quiet residential neighbourhood of Montreal.
The fight was a “personal conflict” unrelated to organized crime that began in an alleyway in the city’s Plateau-Mont-Royal area and involved more than a dozen people, Commander Jean-Sébastien Caron, head of Montreal police’s major crimes unit, said on Wednesday.
The other victims were men aged 23 and 25. Police have still not announced any suspects or named the victims.
The deaths are Montreal’s 14th, 15th and 16th homicides of 2024. They follow a deadly period in the city, where there have been seven homicides in the past 10 days.
Lila Santos, a resident of the public housing complex next to the alley where the recent fight occurred, said she heard screams on Tuesday night and came to her window, where she saw people running wildly.
The alley is a common gathering place for young men who often fight and sell drugs, frightening local residents, she added.
“Every night it’s chaos here, I don’t know why the police don’t come,” Ms. Santos said, adding that “sometimes we don’t go out, because we’re scared.”
Police received several 911 calls around 7 p.m. on Tuesday night about a disturbance in the area of the stabbings. They found three male victims there who had all been wounded by a sharp object. The victims were transported to hospital but succumbed to their injuries.
The packaging for a dressing to treat open chest wounds was still visible on the ground near the site of the stabbings on Wednesday morning.
Police are consulting local security footage in their search for suspects, said police spokesperson Caroline Chèvrefils.
Police have been successful in tracking down and arresting the people responsible for many of the city’s recent homicides, Cdr. Caron said.
He added that, with between 25 and 35 murders a year, Montreal compares favourably with many big North American cities when it comes to violent crime.
“Montreal is an extremely safe city in terms of the homicide rate,” he said.
With a report from The Canadian Press