Laval West resident’s skull fractured during home invasion

By Robert Frank
www.thesuburban.com

“There’s absolutely no danger to his life,” Const. Franco di Genova reassured The Suburban, after a Laval West resident was brutally beaten during an invasion, armed robbery and armed assault at his home, Jan. 14.

“Four young black males wearing ski masks entered the victim’s home at 3150 St. Antoine, around 7 p.m.,” he reported. “The suspects had a knife and something that resembled a handgun. Once inside, they tied up the father, 50, and his two sons, 17 and 19 years of age.”

“The father was struck on the head with some sort of metal bar, which lightly fractured his skull and left cuts on his face and head,” Const. di Genova continued. “Doctors want to operate to relieve the part of the skull pressing lightly against his brain, but they say that it is nothing that they can’t handle.”

He added that one of the two sons was also taken to hospital for shock and later released.

“Investigators obtained a warrant to search the home in Laval, where they found a very small quantity of crack and cocaine as well as a hunting rifle which they seized, because the owner did not have a permit for it.”

“They noted that he also rented a chalet in the Lachute area, so they obtained a second warrant to search that location as well.” There, police found an M4 carbine, an automatic rifle similar to but shorter than the M16 used by the United States Army, and accompanying magazines and ammunition.

“Detectives then went to his door to talk to him. They want to know what that weapon was doing there,” explained Const. di Genova. “Was it for his personal use? For someone else? Was this a temporary pit stop for the rifle to be shipped out to some organized crime group?”

He said that the father was still cooperating with police, adding that Laval detectives know him very well, “though he has been quiet for the past seven years.”