Montreal police seek ‘important witness’ to 2 homicides less than 24 hours apart

Montreal police are searching for a man they consider to be “an important witness” in the city’s 12th and 13th homicides of 2020.

Police are asking for the public’s help in locating 61-year-old Claude Charbonneau.

Charbonneau measures five feet three inches and weighs 125 pounds, and has blue eyes and grey hair.

Police say Charbonneau has several body tattoos including his initials on his arms.

Police believe Charbonneau may be driving a 2006 grey Dodge Caravan with Quebec licence plate number N85 RQ5 to get around.

Anyone with information on Charbonneau can call the anonymous tip line at 514-393-1133.

Police warn anyone who sees Charbonneau should not attempt to contact him but should dial 911.

An investigation seeks a possible link between both homicides.

The first cases involves an 80-year-old man who was found seriously injured inside a building on Benny Avenue, near Sherbrooke Street West in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-De-Grâce borough on Thursday morning.

He was rushed to hospital in critical condition before being declared dead.

Montreal police spokesperson Véronique Comtois said the man’s body showed signs of violence.

“We’re investigating the incident as an assault,” Comtois said on Thursday.

According to Montreal police spokesperson Benoit Boisselle, the investigation into the man’s death led officers to an apartment on Henri-Bourassa Boulevard East on Friday morning, near the Grande-Allée intersection in the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

Investigators found the body of a 68-year-old man with head injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A police command post was parked outside the apartment building on Henri-Bourassa Boulevard East on Friday.

No arrests have been made in connection with either homicide.