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Montreal police say they have arrested a 20-year-old and an 18-year-old in connection with the early-morning fire that killed two people on Oct. 4.
Cmdr. Jean-Sébastien Caron, the head of the major crimes squad, said one of the suspects is believed to have used an incendiary object to start the fire while the other drove a getaway vehicle.
Caron said police are talking with Quebec’s prosecution service to determine what charges may be laid and that they will decide within 24 hours.
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He said the two men, who are known to police and are linked to organized crime, are currently detained.
Caron said police don’t yet know what the motive may have been or whether the fire is linked to organized crime.
The investigation remains ongoing, police say.
The five-alarm fire on Oct. 4 took the lives of two French tourists, Léonor Geraudie, 43, and her seven-year-old daughter, Vérane Reynaud-Geraudie. The 23 others inside the building made it out alive, though two were reported to be in critical condition by Montreal police.
Security camera footage obtained by CBC shows a person dressed in black kicking down a door of the building on Notre-Dame and Bonsecours Sts. at 2:33 a.m. The figure is seen running away at 2:34 a.m., followed by black smoke pouring out of the building’s ground floor entrance.
Montreal’s fire department says they sent 125 firefighters and 50 trucks at the height of the blaze.
The building, which contained a restaurant and a 20-room hotel, is owned by Montreal defence lawyer Émile Benamor. He also owns the property on Place d’Youville in Old Montreal where seven people died in a fire on March 16, 2023.
On Tuesday, police arrested three men after shots were fired overnight on Oct. 9 at another building Benamor owns in Old Montreal.
The building that was hit by bullets at 808 Berri St. is listed as the office for lawyer Émile Benamor. Benamor owns the building, according to property records.
This report will be updated.
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