Montreal police investigating whether arson at businesses, gunfire at home are connected

Police are investigating whether a series of arson attacks and gunfire in the Montreal area this week may be connected.

So far, police have made an arrest in one of the three cases — an 18-year-old man who showed up to a hospital Friday morning with severe burns to his body.

At around 4 a.m., police were called to Micro Espresso Cafe in Old Montreal after the owner reported a break-in captured on surveillance camera. The dramatic video obtained by CTV News shows six suspects dressed in black walk up to the front entrance with what appears to be Jerry Cans and smash a window with a hammer before a ball of fire erupts from inside the cafe.

One of the individuals appears to be on fire as they all flee the scene on foot on Saint-Pierre Street. The fire was later extinguished.

Investigators are set to speak with the teenager under arrest once his condition permits, a police spokesperson said.

Another fire was reported in Boucherville, on Montreal’s South Shore, at the Madame Bovary restaurant at 20 de Mortagne Boulevard at around 3:40 a.m. Longueuil police told CTV News that they believe the fire was intentionally set and that no injuries were reported.

Two doors down from Micro Espresso Cafe is a bar called Flyjin. Madame Bovary and Flyjin are operated by the same company, A5 Hospitality. The company’s website describes itself as a “a leading player in the restaurant and entertainment industry for over 15 years” whose restaurants include “high-end Japanese restaurants to large-scale entertainment projects.”

The home of one of the co-founders of A5 was also the target of gunshots on Thursday for the second time in less than a month.

Montreal police said several shots were fired at the home on Sagittaire Street on Nuns’ Island, at around 3:35 a.m. on Thursday. The same address was also targeted on the night of May 4. After the first incident, the SPVM reported that suspects had fired shots at the residence before fleeing on foot.

People were inside the home both times it was shot up. No one was injured.

Montreal police say it’s too soon to say if any of these events are linked, but their investigation continues.

‘We came here for a peaceful life,’ cafe owner says

Simon Massaglia, owner of Micro Espresso Café, said he saw people with balaclavas on their head on surveillance cameras breaking into his business in the early morning hours.

He said he could see them spread gasoline in the shop after hammering their way through a window. The images, he said, looked like they were from a movie and left him shocked.

“I can’t believe this happened,” he told CTV News, adding that he’s not sure why this happened to his business, which he opened in May 2021.

He said he has never been approached for protection, given recent extortion attempts targeting Montreal businesses in recent months.

He says this is not part of his Canadian dream.

“Canada is the one place where everything is calm, there’s no violence. It’s a very good place to grow up and live, and Italy was becoming a very violent place to live … Coming here, I wasn’t expecting this type of low life. You see this stuff in Puglia, you see this stuff in the south of Italy where they’ll put a bomb in your shop and blow it up.”

Caution tape surrounded part of Saint-Pierre Street into the afternoon hours on Friday and Massaglia still hasn’t been able to enter his business. He commended the police officers for their work so far on the case and said he has spoken to the owners of the Flyjin, whom he said are also in shock.

Massaglia said even though police described the damages to his cafe as “minor” it will take “a lot of work to rebuild,” saying that as a mentor to other cafe owners in Montreal, he knows what it takes to open and reopen a new business.

With files from CTV Montreal’s Olivia O’Malley

The original article has been edited at the request of the business owner for security concerns.