A man was apprehended, and three officers were taken to the hospital with minor injuries after a police incident in Montreal’s Ville-Marie neighborhood on Thursday morning, near the Berri-UQAM Metro station and the adjacent university. Montreal police officers observed a 34-year-old man wielding a knife on Ste-Catherine Street, between Berri and St-Denis streets, at approximately 7:45 a.m. Initially, the police reported the suspect’s age as 25.
According to Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant, the officers attempted to defuse the situation by deploying rubber bullets and a stun gun, but the suspect remained confrontational. Additional officers tried to surround the suspect with their vehicles, resulting in a collision between the police cars, as confirmed by Montreal police.
Brabant explained that the maneuver was aimed at containing and controlling the suspect without causing harm to anyone. The incident occurred near the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).
During the confrontation, one of the officers discharged his weapon towards the suspect, but the suspect was unharmed. Following this, the officers used a stun gun to subdue and apprehend the suspect. The man was arrested and taken to the hospital with minor injuries, where he is scheduled to be interrogated on Thursday. Additionally, three officers involved in the incident were also transported to the hospital with minor injuries resulting from the collision, according to Brabant.
A witness described hearing police officers yelling “arms up” in a video captured by Simon Côté-Lapointe and submitted to Radio-Canada. The footage shows over a dozen officers surrounding the suspect, who was walking in front of a building wearing a black coat. Some officers can be seen preparing stun guns, with shouts heard in the background, and a gunshot audible at one point. The suspect eventually falls to the ground in the video, as more police vehicles arrive at the scene.
Côté-Lapointe, the witness, expressed his decision to film the incident out of fear that it might escalate similarly to a recent event in Minneapolis. He felt that the response, including sirens, gunshots, and the use of a Taser, seemed excessive. However, Brabant emphasized that the police treated the incident as a top-priority call due to the potential threat posed by a knife-wielding individual in close proximity to the university.
Brabant mentioned that the police could not confirm whether the suspect had a history of mental health issues. A section of Ste-Catherine Street and De Maisonneuve Boulevard remains closed between Berri and Sanguinet streets for investigative purposes.
