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The chief of the Longueuil, Que., police force allegedly gave erroneous information about the fatal police shooting of a 15-year-old to Quebec’s police watchdog, according to documents.
Now, Catherine Fournier, the mayor of the South Shore municipality, is asking for the Quebec public security minister to investigate the chief of police, Patrick Bélanger, and the Longueuil police force.
Nooran Rezayi, a high school student, was shot and killed in September after police responded to a 911 call reporting a group of armed people in a Longueuil neighbourhood.
His family says he was unarmed and carrying only a backpack filled with school books. The watchdog, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendante (BEI), has since confirmed that no firearm was recovered from the teen.
According to the emails made public Thursday by the City of Longueuil, the director of the BEI, Brigitte Bishop, contacted Bélanger on Nov. 5 to ask him why it took his police force one hour and 36 minutes to advise the police watchdog of the fatal shooting of Nooran.
In the email, Bishop says the teenager was shot by police at around 2:58 p.m. that day, but that the BEI was not informed until 4:34 p.m.
Bishop says in the email that she believes that all the criteria for launching an independent investigation were met as soon as Nooran was transported to the hospital.
Instead, Longueuil police officers began their own investigation by interviewing witnesses at the scene of the incident between 3:26 p.m. and 6:22 p.m.
BEI head disputes police chief’s explanations
In an email dated Nov. 11 in response to Bishop, Bélanger explained that officers had to meet with witnesses because of the nature of the 911 call, which reported the presence of several people dressed in black, wearing hoods and masks and carrying weapons in a residential neighbourhood.
Bélanger maintained that officers had to do what was necessary to ensure that there was no longer any danger.
In addition, at 3:26 p.m., he said police received information about the presence of an armed youth a few kilometres from the scene.
The purpose of meeting with witnesses was therefore to ensure that the area where Nooran was killed was safe, he said.
In response, Bishop disputed Bélanger’s explanations as they didn’t match the BEI’s information.
First, she said, the possible presence of a “second armed youth” a few kilometres away was not supported by any evidence in her team’s possession. She reminded the police chief that subsequent 911 calls registered between 3:11 p.m. and 3:26 p.m. were all quickly invalidated.
Bishop added that the SPAL had carried out investigative work that ought to have been the purview of the BEI. She gave examples of officers meeting with numerous witnesses, taking statements and searching for surveillance videos and witnesses.
In a media release on Thursday afternoon, Fournier said she learned of “very serious information” shared with her on Nov. 19 and 26. The information, contained in letters sent from Bishop to Bélanger, “reveal several alleged breaches of the SPAL’s legal and regulatory obligations in the wake of events following the tragic death of Nooran Rezayi.”
“Trust in our institutions is at the heart of my political commitment. In September, I called for transparency from the BEI. The same transparency must apply to the SPAL,” she said in a statement.
“Light must be shed on the sequence of events in order to preserve the credibility of the organization and identify the causes of any shortcomings.”
