A man has died after robbing a store in Montreal.

Police say that just before 5 a.m. Friday a man broke into a grocery store on Maurice Duplessis Blvd. near 27th Ave., removed an unknown number of items and fled in a car.

He was spotted in Riviere des Prairies and Montreal North when officers saw the car speeding west on Maurice Duplessis Blvd.

Const. Simon Delorme said police decided not to pursue because the man was going very fast and it had been snowing lightly, but the man continued to speed until losing control of his car at Langelier Blvd.

The thief's vehicle hit three parked cars, spun around, and stopped when it hit a tree on Monty Ave., one block west.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene of his injuries by an Urgences Santé doctor around 6 a.m.

Police will spend the morning reconstructing the crash to determine exactly what happened.