Quebec’s police watchdog, the BEI, says it will take over the investigation into Thursday morning’s brazen drive-by shootings, which ended with a fatal car crash in Montreal that left two men dead.
Montreal police were first called just after 5 a.m. for shots fired along Pie-Ix Boulevard. Authorities say two vehicles exchanged gunfire in targeted shootings.
One driver was hit in the upper body and sent to hospital. He is expected to recover. The other vehicle fled the scene and crashed into a tree on St. Zotique Street. Three men, all in their 20s, were in the vehicle.
One was pronounced dead at the scene and another was sent to hospital in critical condition where he was later pronounced dead, Urgences-santé officials confirmed.
Shortly thereafter, another vehicle was struck by bullets in a targeted shooting on Saint Joseph Boulevard. Police could not yet confirm if the third vehicle was implicated in the previous incidents.
No injuries were reported in that event.
Quebec’s office of independent investigations, the BEI, said it would take over the investigation, implying that the crash possibly occurred during a police operation.
–with files from Alessia Simona Maratta, Global News