The police service leading the investigation into the drowning deaths of eight people in the St. Lawrence River is now facing a Quebec provincial police probe over a shooting incident last Friday involving two officers.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service Chief Shawn Dulude told CBC News on Tuesday that the incident was referred to Quebec’s Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI) and that the Sûreté du Québec was tasked with conducting an internal investigation after an Akwesasne officer fired at least twice into an SUV while trying to arrest the driver on a 2020 warrant.
“I did call in a third party to conduct the internal investigation,” said Dulude. “This is to ensure transparency.”
The two officers involved have been placed on administrative leave.
One of the bullets pierced the driver’s-side windshield and the passenger-side window. A second bullet struck the passenger door on the driver’s side.
No one was physically injured in the police shooting. But the event left the front-seat passenger traumatized after she felt the bullet’s gust before it struck the side window next to her head, according to the passenger’s mother, Jenny Thompson.
“She felt the glass in her face and in her hair, everywhere,” said Thompson.
The shooting incident has added to questions already faced by the police service as it continues to lead a complex investigation into the deaths late last month of six foreign nationals and two Canadian children in the St. Lawrence River.
‘No need to be pulling a gun’
The police service faced community criticism early in the investigation over the handling of at least two emergency phone calls and one text message from Akwesasne residents who said they heard shouts for help from the river overnight between March 29 and March 30.
Dulude has previously told reporters officers investigated the claims using heat-sensing technology, but found nothing.
The police service also faced criticism on social media from the family of Casey Oakes after announcing an end to a land and water search for the 30-year-old community member. Police have said Oakes is a suspect in connection with the river deaths.
The recent shooting incident unfolded on the evening of Friday, April 7, on a narrow street in a densely populated portion of the community known as St. Regis Village.
The village, which is in Quebec, sits between the U.S.-Canada border on land that juts out over the southern shores of the St. Lawrence River. The Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) territory straddles the Ontario, Quebec and New York State borders.
Two women, who are cousins, were parked outside the home of Katheryn Square, their 84-year-old grandmother. Square lives on Akwesasne Street, a few metres away from a sign that reads, “Drive Slowly Children Live Here.”
CBC News knows the identity of the two cousins, who have not been publicly identified by Akwesasne police.
Sometime around 8:50 p.m., two Akwesasne patrol officers approached the vehicle to arrest the driver, who was wanted on a warrant for aggravated assault from May 2020.
What happened next is disputed. Akwesasne police claim the driver used the vehicle to hit one of the officers, who then fired two shots at the SUV as it sped south, across the international border a few blocks away.
Katheryn Square said she witnessed part of the incident and heard one of the officers say that the driver “almost hit one of the officers.”
Square said she’s lived at the same house for 64 years and had never seen a police officer fire a gun on her street before.
“There’s no need to be pulling a gun on nobody,” she said.
Questions over chronology
Some community members have said the officer fired shots before the driver attempted to flee the scene, as suggested by partial home security video footage circulating on social media. CBC News was able to verify the source of the security footage.
Jenny Thompson’s daughter was the passenger in the car. Speaking on her behalf, Thompson told CBC News the officers approached the vehicle yelling at the driver to get out of the car because they had an active warrant. She said the officers fired before the driver attempted to pull away.
“So she is in the front seat, slouched down, glass flying everywhere and, you know, panic sets in, and bullets are flying,” Thompson said. “They put it in drive and took off.”
Keith Gordon, an Akwesasne lawyer who is assisting the family, said police should be fully transparent and release any body camera and dashcam footage from the incident to the community.
“The community should see what’s happening,” he said.
Gordon said there should also be an audit of the police service’s protocols for drawing weapons.
“I think the fact that a weapon was drawn and actually used, it should be upsetting to the community,” he said.
Gordon said he’s spoken with the driver of the vehicle. He said she was charged in relation to a fight involving two men that ended up with charges being dropped.
“She was never approached to deal with the charges or to answer to the Mohawk police about any outstanding investigations or charges,” he said.
U.S. authorities have since detained the driver for breaching release conditions from a 2020 conviction for bringing in undeclared cash over the border, according to U.S. Federal Court records. The driver told Homeland Security agents at the time that the money was from her late mother’s insurance policy.
Akwesasne police are planning to charge the driver of the SUV with assault with a weapon, mischief over $5,000 and flight from police, along with other charges, according to court records.
