Montreal police are looking for three suspects who attacked a pair of teenagers and put them into hospital.
The young men were beaten up at the corner of Sherbrooke and Paul-Pau, on the eastern edge of the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough, at 1 a.m. Friday morning.
Questions are being raised about the delay between the 911 call and the ambulance response.
Police officers and firefighters were at the fight scene very quickly, but witnesses say it took paramedics up to 45 minutes to show up.
Urgences Sant� operations chief Benoit Garneau says the initial call at 1:11 a.m. was for a Priority 2 emergency, but that it was upgraded to a top-level Priority 1 at 1:18. While there were still no ambulances available, first responders from the fire department were on the scene within four minutes to take care of the patients, until the ambulance finally arrived at 1:41 a.m.
Patients' rights advocate Paul Brunet says regardless of their reasons, that's just too long.
"Objectively, 31 minutes is too late for this kind of emergency, that's for sure. We all agree on that," said Brunet.
Once paramedics arrived, the 18-year-old was rushed to hospital and treated for critical head wounds.
Friday morning police reported that he had died in hospital. They are now saying he is on life support, in critical condition.
The 19-year-old victim was not seriously hurt in the attack, but is still recoving in hospital.
According to police spokesperson Raphael Bergeron, officers are still waiting to talk to the survivor.
"We don't know the motive of the aggression. The only thing we know so far is three white males approached two other white males at the intersection, and started beating them with fists and kicks," said Bergeron.
A witness down the block from the attack was too far away to provide an accurate description of the attackers.
Anyone with information is asked to call Info-crime at 514-393-1133.
