Vol. 74/No. 7      February 22, 2010

The action took place the day Constable Jean-Loup Lapointe, the officer who shot Villanueva, was testifying at a months-long coroner’s inquest into the killing. Lapointe was never charged.

Through demonstrations and other public activity the Villanueva family and supporters forced the Quebec provincial government to call the inquest. Supporters of the Villanueva family packed the courtroom to hear Lapointe’s testimony.

Demonstrators chanted “Lapointe, murderer” at the action, organized by the Coalition contra la répression et les abus policiers (Coalition against police repression and abuse). Speakers from community organizations accused the police of “racial profiling” and getting “special treatment” from the government.

In the minutes before his death, Villanueva was playing dice with his brother Dany and friends when Lapointe and another cop tried to give Dany a ticket for violating a municipal bylaw banning “gambling” in public. Lapointe tried to handcuff Dany. In the ensuing scuffle Lapointe fired his gun four times, killing Fredy and wounding two others. Lapointe claims he feared for his life and fired in self-defense.

Dany Villanueva is scheduled to testify as a witness at the inquest in the coming days. In the meantime the Canada Border Services Agency is trying to deport him to Honduras on the grounds that Villanueva, who is not a citizen, pleaded guilty in 2005 to possessing a revolver and assaulting a teenager, for which he was sentenced to an 11-month jail term. The Immigration and Refugee Board has scheduled a March 11 hearing on the move to deport him.  
 
 
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