The burned out remains of a fire in which two people died last week are seen, in Old Montreal, Oct. 8.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Montreal police said Friday they have arrested two men in connection with a fire that killed a mother and her young daughter last week in Old Montreal.
Major crime section chief Jean-Sébastien Caron said at a news conference that the two suspects, men aged 18 and 20, were arrested in the Saint-Laurent and Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve boroughs. He alleged one suspect lit the fire and the other drove their getaway vehicle.
Police did not identify the suspects nor offer motives. Mr. Caron said the suspects were known to police but declined to provide more details.
He said the investigation is continuing and police suspect someone else “called the shots” and more arrests could follow. He said more than 200 police officers have worked on the case since the fire.
“We treated this case as a murder case from the beginning,” said Insp. David Shane Friday. “But the decision [on charges] will be made by the prosecutor.”
Crown prosecutor spokesperson Lucas Bastien said in an e-mail Friday that they had no public information to share at this point.
A French woman, Léonor Geraudie, 43, and her daughter, Vérane Reynaud-Geraudie, 7, died in the Oct. 4 blaze. Two other people were injured, according to police. There was a total of 25 people in the building at the time of the fire.
The incident has many similarities to a catastrophic blaze that killed seven people in March, 2023, in another building owned by the same man, Émile Benamor, in the same borough. Both buildings had a history of safety issues.
Quebec’s chief coroner announced there would be a public inquiry into the fire, which could be merged with the inquiry into the 2023 incident given “the similar facts” between the two.
Fire inspection records show that the building in the latest tragedy had more than a dozen non-compliances identified in 2020. Inspectors listed issues related to the building’s fire-alarm systems, smoke detectors, sprinklers, fire extinguishers, firewalls and means of evacuation.
The most recent inspections recorded in the files occurred in April, 2023, but it is unclear from the reports whether any of the non-compliances were ever corrected. Fire department officials have said that as of spring 2024, the building was deemed safe.
As uncovered by The Globe last year, the Montreal fire department had a lax policy on fire safety issues such as alarm systems and means of evacuation enforcement. The policy was repealed after the March, 2023, fire and The Globe’s reporting, which triggered official investigations into the department’s deficient prevention methods.
That fire was ruled criminal by Montreal police, who have said they submitted a report to the Crown prosecutor for analysis. No charges have yet been laid in this case.
With a report from The Canadian Press