MONTREAL – A Quebec judge overseeing a coroner’s inquiry into the police shooting of a Montreal teen has put proceedings on hold until this afternoon so he can figure out just who is going to be involved.
Coroner Robert Sansfacon said the inquiry into Fredy Villanueva’s death could not begin this morning because it was unclear whether the victim’s family and two men shot by police in the same incident last August still want intervener status.
None of them showed up at the Montreal courthouse this morning, living up to their word they would take not part in the inquiry although they have said they would testify if subpoenaed.
Sansfacon says it is not clear if either Denis Meas and Jeffrey Sagor Metellus or the Villanueva family still want intervener standing as neither they nor their lawyers have advised the coroner’s office.
They are expected to appear before the inquiry this afternoon.
Francois Daviault, a lawyer representing the coroner’s office, told Sansfacon he was concerned by the absence of the family and the other victims in the case.
