Driver in fatal Quebec crash ran down pedestrians randomly, including children: police

A baby and a young child were seriously injured on Monday when a 38-year-old suspect rammed pedestrians walking along the roadside in Amqui, a move he allegedly planned, according to the police investigation.

Provincial police provided an update on Tuesday morning on the tragedy that killed two people in the small community of Bas-Saint-Laurent, about 666 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

They also confirmed the identities of the two men who were killed: Gérald Charest 65 years old from Amqui and Jean Lafrenière 73 years old also from Amqui.

Police also say three of the injured people are in critical condition, fearing for their lives. Another three are seriously injured, but authorities don’t feel for their lives, and three more suffered minor injuries including treatment for shock. The youngest of the victims is under a year old, while the oldest is 77.

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Sergeant Claude Doiron notably gave information on the nine wounded, including a baby of less than a year old, and a child almost three years old. The toddlers are seriously injured, but there is no fear for their lives, according to the SQ. They are being treated at the CHU de Québec-Université Laval, the establishment confirmed by press release.

Among the six injured people treated in Quebec, three patients are in critical condition at the hospital. Three others are in stable condition. Another patient is still at the Amqui hospital, and his condition was stable as of Monday, according to Dr. Mélanie Blanchette, head of general medicine at the hospital.

The age of the rest of the injured is up to 77 years old, said the SQ.

The suspect arrested in this case must appear around 2 p.m. Tuesday. The man surrendered himself to the police on Monday afternoon and quickly confessed, according to Sergeant Doiron.

According to the police investigation, his actions were premeditated and he targeted people randomly.

The SQ did not confirm the identity of the man, who is from the region, but who was not known to the police.

David Morin, a citizen of Causapscal, witnessed what happened on Monday and was still visibly very shaken.

He said he couldn’t get the image of one of the victims out of his head.

“He was alive when I arrived, and when I went to see another person, I came back and he was dead,” he said.

Morin described the moments that followed, as residents ran to the aid of the victims. He recalled sitting next to a woman dressed in pink, and asking her name as others helped the two young children.

“When you see the people who were run over in front of you, it makes no sense. others, it panics,” he confided. “The thing is that we all know each other. You go on the run, and at the same time you “slacke” a little, there you think of your children, your friends. It is sure that you will know people,” he added.

Both Morin and Kristina Michaud, the local Bloc Quebecois MP who is from Amqui, described the town of 6,000 as a peaceful place where everybody knows everyone else.

“Here in Amqui, when we hear a police, ambulance or fire truck siren, we glue ourselves to the windows, because we ask ourselves ‘Who is it? I must know the person,”’ said Michaud, who said her own mother regularly walks the road where the crash happened.

“Yesterday, it was several people we knew (who were affected.) It’s extremely troubling,” she added.

“The whole community wishes it were just a bad dream.”