Two women killed, one critically injured in stabbing attack west of Montreal

VAUDREUIL-DORION, Que. – Two women were killed and a third was critically injured in a stabbing attack Thursday in a condo tower west of Montreal, provincial police said.

Sgt. Catherine Bernard said a 44-year-old man was arrested at the scene in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., and was in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Bernard said the suspect was known to police but she wouldn’t say if he was connected to the three victims.

“For the moment, I can’t elaborate on the link between the victims and the suspect,” Bernard said. “It’s the investigation that will tell us what caused the incident.”

She described the two women killed as adults, but did not release their ages. They were declared dead at the scene. The third victim, a 70-year-old woman, was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries and is in critical condition, Bernard said.

One woman who lived in a neighbouring building said she had encountered the suspect numerous times. She said he suffered from a mental illness and she had watched from her window as he was taken away by police a few months ago.

“He’d meet up with my husband sometimes and he was always different,” Colleen Baxter said as she waited outside the building. “And a few times when I was bringing in my groceries, he’d be very aggressive.”

She said a lot of seniors live in the relatively new condo development. “Everyone’s really, really friendly,” she said, adding that the suspect stood out. “It was definitely frightening having him around, you know?” she said.

Baxter said a friend who lived next door to the suspect and his mother tried to avoid him and was frightened to go in the hallway.

“He was screaming all the time, so when he was taken away the first time, I think that that’s when he should have been taken out of the building,” she said.

Piero Gervasi, who lives in a neighbouring building, said police first placed the suspect in a cruiser before transferring him into an ambulance.

“When they took him out to put him on the stretcher, he was all full of blood and everything, and they put him on the stretcher on his stomach, took off his handcuffs and strapped him into the thing and then hauled him away,” he said.

Gervasi said he’d seen the suspect walking his dog around the building but had never spoken to him. “It’s very tragic,” he said.

Bernard said the suspect will be met by investigators when his condition permits. “He is hospitalized. We don’t fear for his life,” she said. Investigators will also talk to other residents of the building.

Police received a call at about 11:50 a.m. for an armed assault inside the building. Bernard said police arrived around noon and set up a security perimeter. The crimes-against-persons unit and crime scene technicians were at the scene later Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2024.

— With files from Sidhartha Banerjee