On Saturday, 18 year old Fredy Villanueva, unarmed, was shot and killed by a Montreal police officer speaking community outrage described in the mainstream media as “a riot”.

What is known is that two police officers, a man and a woman, saw a group of young people playing dice in the parking lot behind the Henri Bourassa arena on Rolland Blvd., at the corner of Pascal St.

The officers approached the group and tried to arrest Fredy Villanueva’s brother Dany. An altercation broke out and the male police officer fired four shots.

Three people were injured, including Fredy Villanueva.

Back at home after a short stint in jail, Dany confirmed most witness accounts of the event. He said there was no way police could have felt threatened enough to fire at his brother because no one at the scene was armed and no one was violent.

“When the policeman had me on the ground, I was looking right at him and I didn’t see anyone touch him,” he said. “So how could (the officers) have felt threatened?”

Dany was charged with assault for having struggled with police during his arrest, but he has no idea why police wanted to take him into custody to begin with.

“They didn’t tell me anything. They charged me with assault … but those are the only charges against me,” he said.

While the police are conducting an investigation, the community is less than confident in the process and instead demand an independent investigation.

I wouldn’t trust the Montreal system for any bit of justice either especially since part of the city’s policing policy is based on former NYC mayor Giuliani’s policing policies which most people of color in NYC remember as nothing less than a reign of terror in their communities, resulting in many young people of color being shot by the police, often in the back.

Another factor that weakens the outreach is the force’s “incivilities policy,” he added.

Started in 2001 and modelled after then-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s policy in cleaning up the boroughs of his city, it encourages officers to fine people for such behaviour as spitting or talking loud in public.

And in typical post police shooting fashion, the victim, a dead young man, is doubly victimized by having the record of his family p pulled up, as if he was wearing his family’s rap sheet when he was shot or as if that was a justification for shooting unarmed people of color.

According to court records, an individual named Dany Villanueva, living in Montreal North, pleaded guilty to robbery in 2006 and was sentenced to 11 months in jail and two years probation.

Meanwhile the reality is that now a mother buries her son. Siblings bury their brother.

Gracia to El Captivo

Via / Montreal Gazette