Montreal police have arrested two young adults in connection with the deadly fire in Old Montreal last week that killed two people.
Police arrested two men, aged 18 and 20, in the city’s Saint-Laurent and Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve boroughs.
This is a breaking news update. Our earlier story is below.
Montreal Police (SPVM) have arrested two suspects in connection with the deadly fire that destroyed a 160-year-old building in Old Montreal, resulting in the deaths of two people.
The victims were identified as Léonor Geraudie, 43, and her seven-year-old daughter, Vérane Reynaud-Geraudie. Both were French nationals.
The SPVM will hold a press conference on Friday afternoon to provide an update on the investigation.
Their bodies were pulled from the rubble in the three-storey building and identified by Coroner Géhane Kamel.
Following the Oct. 4 blaze, Noovo Info obtained a surveillance video showing a person dressed in black clothing appearing to break into the building. The individual is seen kicking down the door at the front entrance and then leaving moments later as smoke appears to come out of the entrance. The person then flees on foot.
On Tuesday, Quebec’s Public Security Minister François Bonnardel requested a public inquiry into the fire, which Kamel will oversee.
The building, located at the corner of Notre-Dame Street East and Bonsecours Stree, is owned by Emile Benamor, the same owner of another Old Montreal building that caught fire in 2023, killing seven people.
According to police, the investigation into the 2023 fire was handed over to the Quebec Crown prosecution office for review, but no charges have yet been laid in that case.
Police confirmed this week that at the time of the fire, there were 25 people inside the building, which housed a wine bar on the ground floor and a 19-room hostel on the upper floors. All survivors have been accounted for, and police do not expect to find additional victims, though the search is continuing to rule anything out.
With files from CTV Montreal’s Matt Grillo, Joe Lofaro, Stephane Giroux, Noovo Info and The Canadian Press