MAN TO BE CHARGED IN COPS' SHOOTINGS

A 41-year-old man is to be charged tomorrow with first-degree murder
and attempted murder in the shooting death of a Laval police officer
and the wounding of his partner during a drug raid Friday in Brossard.

Constable Daniel Tessier, 42, was pronounced dead at Charles LeMoyne
Hospital in Greenfield Park after he was shot while executing a
search warrant at a private home on Rimouski Cres.

Constable Stephane Forbes, 46, one of at least 13 other police
officers involved in the Brossard raid, was shot in the arm. He is
recovering in a hospital.

The Laval force was carrying out eight simultaneous drug-related
raids Friday morning, seven in Laval and one in Brossard. (The seven
Laval raids resulted in six arrests and no injuries.)

The raids came after a nine-month investigation of a cocaine and
crack trafficking gang based in Laval's Chomedey district.

Tessier was a 17-year veteran of the Laval police force and had
joined the department's drug and morality squad just a week before
the shooting. He was married to Repentigny police Constable Dominique
Lapointe, and was the father of two girls, age 10 and 12. A funeral
service is to be held in Laval this week.

The Surete du Quebec is investigating the shooting.

An SQ spokesperson would not confirm the names of a man and a woman
who were in the Brossard house at the time of the raid. The woman was
wounded, but not severely, in the exchange of gunfire. She was taken
to a hospital. SQ Constable Manon Gaignard said she did not know if
the woman is to be charged.

Billy Basil Parasiris, a businessman, and his wife, Penny Panagiota
Gounis, own the home.

A 6-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy were in the house at the time
of the raid. They are being cared for by other family members, Gaignard said.

Tessier's colleagues are invited to sign a book of condolences at the
main police station in Laval, 3225 St. Martin Blvd. E. Messages of
condolence to Laval police can be emailed to daniel.tessier@ville.laval.qc.ca