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Quebec’s Crown prosecutor says it has stayed charges against 11 teens in Longueuil.
The teens were facing charges in connection with alleged events preceding the death of a 15-year-old boy who was fatally shot by Longueuil police last September.
The police killing of Nooran Rezayi led to police watchdog and criminal investigations into the actions of Longueuil police.
The watchdog also asked Montreal police to investigate the events leading up to the shooting.
The charges against the 11 teens included conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to commit unlawful confinement, conspiracy to commit assault, wearing a disguise for a criminal purpose, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and unlawful assembly.
None of the charges included harm to a person or possession of a firearm, but police did not provide any more details on the weapons found.
The prosecutor’s office said in a news release that it received new evidence after the charges were filed that raised a complex legal issue.
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It specified that the legal proceedings are temporarily suspended and could be resumed within one year pending further analysis and consultations. It said it would not provide further comment.
Montreal police said it would not comment on the Crown’s decision, saying its investigation ended at the end of June, when it announced the charges had been laid.
In an email, police said several searches took place on Montreal’s South Shore in February and police submitted evidence to the Crown in May. Police said it completed its investigation, which resulted in arrest warrants for five suspects and charges laid against another six.
“The charges, which vary depending on the individuals involved, were all authorized by the (Crown prosecutor’s) Youth Affairs Office,” police said.
In June, police said the youth facing charges were between 13 and 17 years old at the time of the events. They did not confirm the relationship between all 11 people or whether they were at the scene when Rezayi was killed, or whether Rezayi was considered a suspect in the investigation.
The police watchdog has said the only firearm seized at the scene by its investigators in September belonged to the officer who shot Rezayi. The watchdog also said investigators seized a baseball bat, a backpack and ski masks, but no sharp-edged weapons.
Witnesses told The Canadian Press in September that the group of young people said they were going to shoot a movie in a nearby wooded area prior to the police intervention.
The Rezayi family filed a lawsuit against the officers involved and the City of Longueuil last December.
In the lawsuit, the family alleges that Rezayi and five friends, all racialized teenagers, were sitting on a sidewalk looking at their phones when a police car drove toward them at high speed. The family said video taken by residents in nearby homes showed police shooting at Rezayi within 10 seconds of parking their car on scene.
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