A 21-year-old man appeared in a Montreal courtroom on Friday where he was formally charged with the attempted murder of a Montreal police officer in late January.
Ali Ngarukiye was arrested in Toronto on Thursday and appeared in court via video conference on Friday.
In all, Ngarukiye was charged with seven offences, including attempted murder, intentionally discharging a prohibited firearm, disarming a police officer and aggravated assault.
“There are seven counts in the information, five of which concern the actual shooting and two of which concern car theft that occurred a few days prior to the shooting,” said Crown prosecutor Louis Bouthiller.
The charges stem from an incident on Jan. 28, in Montreal’s Parc-Extension neighbourhood.
Const. Sanjay Vig was allegedly attacked and disarmed during a traffic stop performed on Mamadi III Fara Camara, leading to his wrongful arrest.
Camara was detained for six days in connection with the assault and charged with attempted murder, before being cleared of any wrongdoing after new evidence came to light.
The case gained notoriety after Camara’s wrongful arrest, with Montreal police issuing a public apology.
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The Quebec government also launched an independent investigation to examine how the case was handled.
Lawyers for Ngarukiye said they’re aware of the situation and will carefully review the evidence submitted against their client after a two-month investigation.
“Obviously there will be a lot of evidence. The investigation lasted a while,” said defence lawyer Elfriede Duclervil, adding her client was in “shock.”
“He seems not to know exactly what’s going on,” she said.
When asked for comment on the appearance of the new accused, Camara’s lawyer told Global News his client may be called as a witness during the case.
Ngarukiye will remain detained until his next court appearance, scheduled for April 1.
— With files from Global News’ Dan Spector
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