Fire in Old Montreal: one of the two arrested suspects had just served a sentence for… arson

One of the two young people arrested in connection with the fire in a heritage building in Old Montreal, which cost the lives of a French tourist and her daughter last week, had just finished a prison sentence for arson just a few days before the tragedy.

• Also read: Fires and gunshots: nothing is going well for lawyer Émile Benamor

The two Montrealers aged 18 and 20 were arrested Friday by officers from the Montreal Police Department. One was arrested at home, while the other was arrested on the public highway.

The 20-year-old, suspected by the police of having lit the blaze with an incendiary object, had barely served a nine and a half month prison sentence for another arson committed in Laval, in April 2023.

He then set fire, in the company of other individuals, to the vehicle of Djamil Pizzi, the son of the influential mafia boss Marco Pizzi.

The group was, however, seen by police officers, who chased them. After having succeeded in losing the patrollers, the young people had crashed into a building. A firearm was found in the arsonists’ vehicle.

The other suspect, who has just reached his majority, has no criminal history as an adult. The SPVM, however, confirmed that the two young people were “known” to the police.

Like a “murder file”

It is still too early to know the nature of the charges that will be brought against the two suspects in connection with the recent fire in Old Montreal, since the file is still being studied by the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions.

Commander Jean-Sébastien Caron, of the Major Crimes Section of the SPVM, however indicated at a press conference that his teams had treated the deaths of Léonor Geraudie, 43, and Vérane Reynaud-Geraudie, 7, as “ murder files.

More than 200 police officers have worked on this file full time since the fire which raged on the night of October 3 to 4.

“It’s exceptional that we arrived at arrests so quickly. The investigation will certainly continue because we want to go back to the people who sponsored it,” underlined Commander Caron.

At the time the press briefing was being held at SPVM headquarters, investigators were busy searching the residences of the two suspects.

In particular, they found a new can of gasoline which would have been used to light the deadly blaze, hidden among waste on the rear balcony of the accommodation occupied by the 20-year-old.

According to our information, the suspects were captured by a surveillance camera at a gas station filling it before the fire.

Linked to extortion?

Remember that 25 people were inside the heritage building located on Notre-Dame Street when an arson attack was started in a restaurant on the ground floor. In addition to the two deaths, two people were injured. One of them is still in the hospital.

According to our Bureau of Investigation, this fire could be linked to a wave of violent extortion attempts in the city center. However, the SPVM did not want to comment on the motive for the fire.

The heritage building belongs to lawyer Émile Benamor, also owner of the building on Place D’Youville, whose fire in March 2023 cost the lives of seven people.

Earlier this week, the office of M^e Benamor located in the city center had been riddled with bullets. The police were quickly alerted and thanks to witnesses, a 17-year-old minor and two young men were arrested.