Police investigate shooting rumours

On the morning of November 21, a witness who spoke with The Eastern Door heard gunfire shortly after a car drove into the Sweet Grass Lodge cannabis dispensary.

“I heard it 100 percent,” the community member said. “I just found it strange, being so early. Who shoots at that time?

“Then I heard other shots, almost like return fire. You heard the rifle, then not long after, you heard what sounded to be a handgun.”

It was around 5 a.m., the sound of gunfire following the sound of a car crash.

“Is that a coincidence? I’ve come to find in Kanesatake nothing’s a coincidence.”

But hours later, the Surete du Quebec (SQ) had no record of a potential shooting, even as rumours swirled.

When officers first showed up around 5:30 a.m. that morning on the heels of the crash, they treated the incident as a hit-and-run collision. The driver had fled the scene, disappearing into the waning night. Investigators determined that the vehicle had been reported stolen just over a week earlier.

“During the call, we did not find any clues at the scene allowing us to confirm that there were shots fired,” said SQ spokesperson Marc Tessier. “However, witnesses claimed to have heard gunshots during the event.”

Now the SQ is continuing an investigation, Tessier said, meeting potential witnesses and collecting footage that could shed light on the incident.

However, dispensary owner Normand Theoret denies that a shooting took place at the store.

“You guys, you all call me and then you put your own story in, so I have really no comments to say. Even if I tell you the truth and all this stuff, you guys just put what you want,” he said, directing The Eastern Door to the police to ask what happened.

When asked about the windows, which were said to be covered up for the duration of that day, he said they are covered up at night and uncovered when the store opens, and not evidence of hidden gunshots. He also insisted the sound of bullets is not out of the ordinary.

“There’s gunfire here every weekend,” he said. “I mean, people go shooting up in the mountains. There’s hunting season. There are people on the first when they get their cheques and they shoot, you know?”

The Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) posted an advisory on Facebook on November 28 advising community members that police would be canvassing the neighbourhood and letting people know how they can come forward with information.

“Shooting at each other is not good business, if that’s what happened, and that needs to stop,” said MCK chief Serge Otsi Simon, who is on the justice and policing portfolio.

Simon saw police loading up the car that hit the shop, its whole front end smashed.

He said a lack of regulation - the shops proliferated on his watch as grand chief in the previous Council term - comes down to a lack of enforcement resources, but that he is supportive of the SQ investigating incidents like this one.

“If anyone’s done something like shooting, they have to face the consequences,” said Simon, who believes this incident is yet further evidence that local policing is needed.

“For the time being, until we establish our own, this is the only recourse we have, and I think the community’s at the point that they don’t care who comes in and provides security, as long as we have security.”

This summer, The Eastern Door reported an explosion in the number of arsons this year, none of which led to arrests and many of which were not even investigated, with the Oka fire chief suggesting there has been a war going on in the local cannabis industry.

Witnesses with information on the November 21 incident can contact the SQ detachment in Oka to provide a statement or information on the incident or, if they prefer to remain anonymous, can contact the Criminal Information Centre at 1-800-659-4264 or [email protected].

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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter