Shot in plain sight

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by JOHN EDMONDS

Two Montreal men were shot dead early Wednesday morning (Jan. 12) at the Bar Adulte on de l'Eglise in southwest Montreal. Although there were a dozen other patrons in the bar at the time, the suspects fled and police currently have no leads on who the assailants are or how to find them.

The deaths were only the most recent barroom shootings that have left police scratching their heads.

Monday's Gazette featured a summary of all 52 homicides that occurred on MUC territory in 1999. According to the article, the disturbing homicide trends of 1999 included the increasing number of attacks upon the elderly and on women living alone. But there was one other trend to be gleaned from the synopses of the murders: unsolved shootings in nightclubs and restaurants.

On March 14, Nick Dimakos was shot at Sessions on Crescent. On April 2, Bruce Lee Gesse was shot at Le Groove on Ste-Catherine E. On April 11, Amit Samir Mohammed was stabbed at Metropool. And on Christmas Day, Jacques Carmel Pierre was killed at the Buffet Cristina.

Although each shooting happened in a patron-filled public establishment, these four cases remain unsolved. In the Dimakos shooting, which was witnessed by 200 customers, police don't even have a suspect.

MUC police spokesperson Christian Emond says the trend isn't surprising. "Murders in public establishments are often pre-meditated," Emond told the Mirror. "That means they've given a lot of thought to how they will get rid of evidence and how they will flee the scene." And, it seems, it's much easier to hide in a crowd--even if you're committing murder. : --Philip Preville

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