As Surete du Quebec officers continue to investigate the Laval shooting that cost Adam Murray his life Monday morning, residents in Ste. Dorothee are troubled that the 26-year-old father of two is now dead at the hands of police.
Murray's neighbour Indira Khazaka said her son was awakened by gunshots at 3 a.m. Monday. She looked out her window, and saw Murray dead on his front lawn.
"The police officer turned him on his side and we saw all the blood beneath him," said Khazaka.
According to SQ officers, Murray had called Laval police to report a home invasion. When they arrived, he approached them with a knife. When he refused to drop the weapon, he was shot.
"The guy was out of the house or coming out of the house and he was running to the officer with a knife in his hand," said SQ spokesperson Marc Butz.
It's customary in Quebec for an outside police force to investigate whenever a civilian is injured or killed during a police operation.
Personal problems
Murray was known by neighbours to have personal problems, with several saying police visited his home on several occasions. Friends say he was at one time in the home security business, and would often call police to claim someone was breaking into his home.
"Once, they put the handcuffs and put him in an ambulance," said a neighbour who did not reveal his name.
Still, neighbours ask why he wasn't shot in the leg, though experts say with seconds to react, instinct likely took over.
"This shooting somebody in the leg is limited to two things, one: TV and two: to a SWAT team guy who's in a very comfortable position with his rifle on sandbag and a telescope," said Steve Roberts of the National Criminal Investigation Service.
Still, neighbours are concerned about the violent reaction to a troubled man.
"All I thought that all he needed was someone to support him and the family to help him out because he was sick," said Khazaka.
