The partner of the 31-year-old man who killed an innocent customer before turning the hunting weapon on himself Friday evening in a Montreal bar had just left him, and the killer wrongly believed that the victim was his romantic rival.
• Also read: “Everyone loved him”: total shock for the loved ones of a Montreal artist shot dead in a bar
A few hours before the tragedy, Louis Lachapelle’s partner of the last five years had announced to him that she wanted to end the relationship. The latter would have taken it with difficulty.
Louis Lachapelle, 31 years old.
Photo taken from Louis Lachapelle’s Facebook page
In the evening, he headed to the MR250 bar, on Mont-Royal Avenue. Louis Lachapelle had already frequented this place in the past, but his ex-partner had also mentioned to him that she intended to go there in the evening after a show.
Investigators set up a crime scene for much of the night.
Photo Agence QMI, PASCAL GIRARD
Around 11 p.m., he allegedly called Frédéric Marinelli, a regular customer of the licensed establishment, to ask him his name. A few moments later, he grabbed a shotgun that he had curiously managed to bring into the bar and killed the victim with a shot to the head. He then turned the hunting weapon on himself.
Frédéric Marinelli and his dog, Jacky, in front of his favorite bar, the MR250, in 2024. He was killed in this establishment on Friday.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM FRED MARINELLI’S FACEBOOK ACCOUNT
Bad feeling
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As expected, his ex-partner did indeed go to the bar after his evening. When he arrived, numerous emergency services were on scene and a crime scene had been established.
The interior of the MR250 bar was scrutinized by forensic identification.
Photo Agence QMI, PASCAL GIRARD
Overcome with a bad feeling and not even knowing yet what had happened, the young woman had the reflex to call an agent on the scene in order to explain to him what had happened earlier in the day, specifies a source.
Louis Lachapelle believed that Frédéric Marinelli was his ex-partner’s lover and that he was the reason for their breakup. But the victim ultimately had nothing to do with this story, according to our police information.
The police investigation led by the homicide section of the Montreal police continues in an attempt to shed light on the event.
Sedentary for two years
Louis Lachapelle, a pruner by trade, had been off work for two years following a nasty back injury. Since then, his mental health has been weakening due to his necessarily more sedentary lifestyle. Before the accident, he hunted and climbed and spent a lot of time in nature. He was taking antidepressants and those close to him were starting to worry about his drinking.
But no one could have imagined such distress. This is particularly the case of Jonathan Bernard, who met his friend just two days before the tragedy in a concert by Blackbraid, a metal group, a style of music appreciated by Louis Lachapelle.
“We were very happy to see each other, as usual,” he said. Louis was smiling and didn’t seem at all like a guy who doesn’t feltait not. He was completely normal. »
Louis Lachapelle has a criminal history. He was arrested in 2023 for assault after grabbing a peddler and forcibly removing him from his apartment building.
Called to clean up the scene, he burst into tears while chatting with witnesses
Even though he has been cleaning crime scenes for 12 years, for the first time in his career, a contractor completely “broke down” when he saw the customers of the bar where the tragedy took place coming to collect their personal effects on Sunday.
“I burst into tears when I got into my tank,” says Dany Bisante, owner of the company CleanMatik Plus/GUS, specializing in crime scene cleaning. I cried again in the evening, then I cried again on Monday. I was completely devastated.”
Dany Bisante, from CleanMatik Plus/GUS, has been cleaning crime scenes for 12 years.
Photo provided by Dany Bisante
What upset the businessman like this was not the state of the premises, but rather the testimonies of the people he met near the MR250 bar on Sunday morning.
They finally obtained authorization to come and collect their personal effects, after quickly fleeing the scene on Friday evening.
Stunned
According to what customers told him, when they heard the first shot, everyone turned to look at the shooter, stunned. When he made the movement to turn the weapon on himself, a person apparently had the impression that he was aiming at them and ran away. Other customers and employees then allegedly followed.
“Everyone was on edge, even two days later, you could feel it,” he explains. There was a lot of emotion and many knew the victim. There was one who was talking to me about his dead friend, his eyes were completely blank and he seemed traumatized. It was so sad to listen to.”
Shotgun damage
It must be said that the crime scene was among the worst that Dany Bisante has had to clean up in his career, particularly due to the use of a shotgun.
“That’s not forgiving,” he said.
Objects, such as chairs, stools and a projector, had to be thrown away altogether because they were beyond repair.
The last time Dany Bisante was so upset was when he decontaminated the house where Ugo Fredette had killed his partner Véronique Barbe, in Saint-Eustache, in September 2017. The victim’s father had touched him so much that he was unable to charge him anything and ended up doing the work voluntarily.
