After 2 daylight shootings in Montreal, authorities try to reassure public

After two men were shot dead in two separate incidents Tuesday afternoon, Quebec Premier François Legault vowed the government will take the necessary steps to "restore order and protect the citizens."

"We will support our police forces to put an end to this violence," he said on Twitter.

"We will not accept, as a government, that Montreal becomes a shooting range for gangs."

Montreal police are still investigating the shootings. The first left 44-year-old Maxime Lenoir dead after he was shot in the parking lot of Rockland Shopping Centre in the Town of Mont Royal (TMR).

Montreal police say a vehicle suspected of being used by the shooter in that case was found abandoned Wednesday morning. It was a 911 caller who alerted police to the vehicle in TMR near the intersection of Canora Road and Franklin Avenue.

The victim, and his links with organized crime, were known to the police, Radio-Canada has learned.

The second shooting took place inside a pizzeria on St-Denis Street, in Montreal's central Latin Quarter, about 40 minutes later. The victim was Diego Fiorita, age 50.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante held a news conference Wednesday to address the shootings, and the sense of safety in the city that, for some, she said has been shaken.

She said the city is going through a challenging phase, but it's important to stick together.

"We are going through a difficult, troubled period, but we have seen others and we have come through," she said.

She said Montreal "is not a playground for criminals" and the various levels of government, in collaboration with the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), are working together to confront gun violence.

She said she has spoken with Quebec's top officials and even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since the shootings to discuss solutions. She said the Legault administration is open to new strategies.

"Montreal remains a safe city," she said.

Montreal police interim chief Sophie Roy also spoke to the need for everybody to work together. She said said the SPVM is developing new strategies that will be released in detail soon, but the police need the population to work with them.