Residents of Mercier are shaken to learn that five young men arrested for trying to remove a 12 -year -old cyclist targeted at random were released by police under conditions.
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“In the circumstances that explain why they are released, it is that the suspects did not know the victim,” said the police director of the City of Mercier, Sébastien Fournier confident, on Tuesday, in order to explain the decision of his organization.
“The danger at the moment, we cannot fear it. Nothing leads us to believe that this person was targeted, ”he adds.
Aged 17 and 18 years old, the five suspects were arrested on Monday at the end of the day, before being released with conditions that were not made public. They are not known to the police and have no judicial history.
Contacted by The Journalthe director of criminal and criminal proceedings (DPCP) of Valleyfield says that the file has not yet been sent to him, but that it will be studied when it is done.
Worried residents
Mercier residents, on the other hand, remain worried. “It worries me enormously, especially since I have two young children,” says Mélissa Cater, who lives a few meters from the crime place.
As for Madeleine Lévesque, who has lived in the neighborhood for over 50 years, she would never have thought that such a gesture could occur near her house. “It’s terrible. I had never heard something like that, ”she says, obviously still upset.
The two women saw nothing on the day of the attempted kidnapping, apart from the marked presence of the police in the sector on Sunday afternoon.
“It doesn’t make sense. If I had a daughter of this age, I would be very careful, ”said a neighbor who asked to keep anonymity. He adds to be indignant that the police have released the suspects.
The latter had seen the young victim and his two friends stop briefly by bike in front of his mailbox, shortly before the incident. He was surprised to learn what had happened to them afterwards.
Depending on the neighborhood encountered, it is common to see individuals traveling by bike on this road, but it is rarer to meet young adolescents alone.
A disturbing attempt
On July 27, the police service was called in conjunction with an attempted abduction on Boulevard Salaberry, near the factory path, in Mercier.
Two young girls and a young man circulated by bicycle, when a Gray van Toyota Sienna slowed down at their height and began to prowl around them.
The suspects were aboard a gray Toyota during the crime.
Photo provided by the Mercier police service
The sliding door of the car opened and two occupants would have tried to seize the 12 -year -old teenager while she was pedaling, the police said.
She lost her balance and fell from her bike. The van then continued its road to the west, towards Sainte-Martine.
The young victim was not injured, but she would be strongly traumatized by the event, say the authorities.
The dissemination of the public opinion as well as the precious assistance of citizens to collect information allowed the police to quickly find the suspects.
