MONTREAL—Michel Couture, 60, lived alone on Pontoise St. in St-Leonard. On Friday night, neighbours called police to report that he was agitated.
That’s when Couture is alleged to have fired at two police officers and two paramedics who answered the 911 call. No one was injured, but it led to an eight-hour stand-off with the SWAT team.
Couture gave himself up at 4:30 am.
The suspect appeared in court on Tuesday morning for his bail hearing. He is charged with four counts of attempted murder. However, both the prosecution and the defence decided to send Couture for a 30-day psychiatric evaluation at the Pinel institute for the criminally insane.
The evaluation will be used to determine if Couture was of sound mind when the incidents took place on Friday night. If the answer is no, then there will not be a trial.
In that case, the accused would remain institutionalized.
Police seized four firearms that Couture legally owned. In the meantime, Urgences Sante staffers are coming to grips with what was a rare, but troubling episode.
“They were a bit shaken. I mean it's not something that we see very often. We were in touch with them early today and they seem to be doing much better,” said David Sasson of Urgences Sante.
Urgences Sante says police are usually called to escort crews 75 per cent of the time when they answer calls. The ambulance service couldn't recall the last time they were ever attacked like this. Still, they're not about to forget it.
“The security of our staff is paramount,” said Sasson. “It’s important that before they proceed and help others, it’s important that they are safe, because if they are not safe we cannot help others.”
