Quebec provincial police are investigating a fatal knife attack on Thursday in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., just west of Montreal.
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) said officers were called to an apartment in connection with an armed assault inside a building on Émile Bouchard Street shortly before noon.
Once inside the building, officers found three seriously injured people inside one of the units.
“Two women were declared dead at the scene, while a 70-year-old woman was taken to hospital in critical condition,” police said in a statement.
A 44-year-old man was arrested at the scene and taken to hospital to be treated for minor injuries.
He is expected to meet with investigators later in the day.
Police would not elaborate on any connection or relationships between the suspect and victims.
They only revealed that the 44-year-old man was known to police.
Colleen Baxter, who lives in a neighbouring building, said the man lived with his mother in a sixth-floor unit.
She said he struggled with mental health issues and this wasn’t the first time police were called to the home.
“A few months ago, he was restrained by police, I watched out my window and he was bleeding from the head,” she said.
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That incident, Baxter said, left many feeling unsettled.
“This is a great community and the building is fabulous. Everyone is great but it’s just when I saw that, I got frightened. We were all scared.” she said.
Baxter said a friend who lived next door to the suspect and his mother tried to avoid him and was frightened to go in the hallway.
“He was screaming all the time, so when he was taken away the first time, I think that that’s when he should have been taken out of the building,” she said.
In a social media post earlier today, Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel called the situation “troubling.”
“My thoughts go to the victims, their families and also nearby citizens,” he wrote in French.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante described the unfolding incident as “horrible news.”
“All my thoughts are with the community of the city of Vaudreuil-Dorion,” she wrote on social media.
— with files from Global News’ Elizabeth Zogalis and The Canadian Press’ Jacob Serebrin
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