On Thursday the SQ reported that they still had not yet questioned the four Montreal police officers who were involved in Tuesday's fatal double-shooting.
Meanwhile in Quebec's provincial legislature, Public Security minister Robert Dutil faced questions concerning the province's policy of having one police force investigate incidents involving another police force.
That's not the case in Ontario. Since 1990, the job of investigating police shootings has been conducted by an independent body known as the Special Investigation Unit.
Dutil said Friday he was keeping all options open concerning the investigation and that he had yet to make any solid conclusions concerning the effectiveness of an independent investigation unit in Ontario.
Investigators, including ballistic experts, returned to the scene Thursday searching for more evidence, but they hadn't yet interviewed the four officers involved in the shooting. They said that will happen in the coming days.
That runs contrary to the procedure followed by Ontario's Special Investigations Unit.
"We ask for an interview right away, and if it can't be done right away, certainly within 24 hours," a spokesman told CTV Montreal.
The Ontario investigations unit is a civilian law enforcement agency, independent of the police.
Former homicide detective Steve Roberts said it's time Quebec established its own independent investigation unit.
"It's time for a civilian review board, not that it's going to do anything different, but it looks more transparent for the population when one police force isn't investigating another."
The shooting on Tuesday took the life of a homeless man and an innocent bystander. The incident began Tuesday morning on Ste. Catherine St. where Mario Hamel, 40, was slicing open garbage bags.
When confronted by police Hamel ran several blocks, only to stop on St. Denis St. near Christin St.
What happened after that is not certain, but it ended with the deaths of Hamel and a passing cyclist, 36-year-old Patrick Limoges.
Anti-brutality protest turned violent
The deaths of the two men prompted dozens of anti-police demonstrators to take to the streets Wednesday night, chanting slogans and carrying signs denouncing police violence.
Demonstrators said they were unhappy that provincial police are handling the investigation into the Montreal shooting.
"There was another murder by police and the other murders that happened in the past were never punished -- I think that's a problem," Jean-Luc Simard said Wednesday before the demonstration began.
"We know the same thing is going to happen again -- the Surete du Quebec will justify this assassination."
The protest descended into violence. Four storefront windows were broken by demonstrators, and paint-filled balloons were tossed, with one hitting a police motorcycle.
The riot squad cleared the area at that point, and no one was injured or arrested.
A protest was scheduled for noon on Thursday, but organizers decided to cancel it rather than risk another confrontation with police.
Workers gathered to mourn Limoges
On Wednesday those who worked with Limoges at Saint Luc hospital marched solemnly across Rene Levesque to the site where he was shot.
"He was appreciated by his colleagues, he was a good guy," said Charles St-Marie. "And all the people in the CHUM especially here at Saint Luc are very sad today."
Limoges began working at the hospital three years ago as a ventilation technician.
Originally from Trois-Rivieres, he was described as a quiet, competent worker. While many of his co-workers were saddened by the abrupt death, others are outraged.
"There's a lot of anger and rage," said Gilles Girard, who wondered why police felt it necessary to draw their guns to deal with a troubled man.
Hospital staff say the shooting also raises lot of issues for them about their own personal safety around the hospital in an area that's already rife with security issues.
"There are a lot of problems around, people who take drugs, itinerants," said St-Marie.
Official statistics from the Quebec government indicate that 72 people have been killed or seriously injured by police fire over the past 12 years.
