Fredy Villanueva coroner report criticizes police practices

The Quebec coroner's office says a range of factors led to the 2008 shooting death of teenager Fredy Villanueva, and none of them, taken on their own, would justify his death.

Villanueva, 18, was shot and killed on Aug. 9, 2008, by Const. Jean-Loup Lapointe of Montreal police, after the young man was found playing an illegal game of dice with his brother and three friends in Montreal's Henri-Bourassa Park.

"The death of M. Villanueva is the result of a multitude of human nature factors, which, if considered on their own, would not have logically justified this result," the report states.

"Each year, thousands of infractions as trivial as playing dice in the park are the subject of police interventions that go well, even when police and members of the public disagree."

The coroner's report, released Tuesday morning, made about 20 recommendations, which focus mainly on police practices.

Highlights from the recommendations

The Quebec Ministry of Public Security should release:

Clear guidelines for police who come into physical contact with an individual who has not been detained or arrested.
Clear guidelines for when a police officer is authorized to take a weapon out of its holster, when an office can fire a weapon and at what point he or she should stop shooting.
A clearly stated position on the controversial practice and training of patrol officers to shoot at the core of a person's body, until the threat has ended, knowing that this practice, almost systematically, results in shots being fired unnecessarily.

Gilberto and Lilian Villanueva, parents of Fredy Villanueva, attended a 2009 vigil at at the site where their son was killed on the first anniversary of his death in Montreal. (Graham Hughes/CP)

The inquest, led by Quebec Court Judge André Perreault, resumed in June 2013 with the testimony of two final witnesses.

The inquest had been repeatedly delayed by legal wrangling with the police union, which contested revealing any information about officers' service weapons.

In the days following the shooting, Lapointe said he pulled his gun out during the confrontation in the park because he feared for his life. He said he and his partner Const. Stéphanie Pilotte were both in "imminent danger."

Lapointe said the situation had escalated after Villanueva's older brother Dany refused to identify himself and co-operate with police.

Two of the other men suffered bullet wounds during the altercation in the park. Demonstrations held in the Montreal North neighbourhood following Villanueva's death turned violent and sparked rioting.

The Villanueva family after the shooting

In the year after Villanueva's death, the family filed a $1-million lawsuit against the city and the two police officers involved.

The family, which has lived in Quebec since immigrating from Honduras in 1998, moved from Montreal North following Villanueva's death. They eventually settled in Repentigny.

In 2010, Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board ordered the deportation of Dany Villanueva back to Honduras for his criminal history, which includes involvement with street gangs and an armed robbery conviction.

Last month, the elder Villanueva pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a 2010 arrest involving driving under the influence, possession of marijuana and violating his probation.

Villanueva's death is marked each year by a vigil in Montreal North.

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