An infant is among the injured as police say the driver deliberately hit people in the town of Amke, Quebec. arrest the suspect.
Two men were killed when a pickup truck plowed into pedestrians in a small town in the eastern Canadian province of Quebec in what police described as a “deliberate” act.
Witnesses told local media the truck hit several people on Monday outside a microbrewery in Amke, then continued another 400 to 500 meters (450 to 550 yards) along the road.
Quebec Provincial Police said nine people were injured, three of them seriously. Police said a baby was among the injured.
The 38-year-old driver, a local man, turned himself in to police and was arrested for allegedly committing the fatal hit-and-run, Sergeant Helen St-Pierre said.
Canadian broadcaster CBC reported that he is expected to be charged on Tuesday.
“It has been established that the individual committed these acts in a premeditated manner, which is why we are currently talking about a murder investigation,” Quebec Provincial Police spokesman Sergeant Claude Doiron told reporters Tuesday.
Doiron said the motive is still under investigation but police believe the incident was “premeditated” and that the victims were “targeted at random”.
“We’re talking about the pedestrians who were wandering along Route 132 on both sides of the road,” he said. “We do not know the motives, the state of mind of the individual when he committed these acts.”
St-Pierre said the dead were two men, one in his 60s and the other in his 70s.
My heart is with the people of Amqui, Quebec today. As we learn more about the tragic events that took place, I make everyone moved in my thoughts. And to the first responders: Thank you for your promptness, courage and professionalism.
Justin Trudeau March 13, 2023
The accident occurred just after 3 pm (19:00 GMT) along Rue Saint-Benoit in Amke, a town of about 6,000 residents 350 kilometers (220 miles) northeast of Quebec City.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a message on Twitter: “My heart is with the people of Amky, Quebec today.” “As we learn more about the tragic events that took place, I make everyone moved in my thoughts.”
Mayor Sylvie Blanchett said everything will be done to support residents after the accident.
“I am here for the people of my motherland to tell them we are with them wholeheartedly,” she said, as reported by Radio Canada. “We know they will need support, and that is what we will do in the coming hours and days.”
Last month in Laval, Quebec, police said a man driving a city bus deliberately rammed into a daycare center, killing two children.
In 2021, a man used a pickup truck to kill four members of an immigrant family in London, Ontario, in what Trudeau called an anti-Muslim hate crime.
In 2018, a man in a pickup truck attacked pedestrians in Toronto, killing 10 people.