Arthur Galarneau, the young man who allegedly stabbed three members of his family to death in the Rosemont neighborhood on Friday, was charged with unpremeditated murder at the Montreal courthouse on Saturday morning.

Arthur Galarneau appeared by telephone in the morning before the Court of Quebec. He was formally charged with the second degree murders of Mylène Gingras, Francine Gingras-Boucher and Richard Galarneau.

According to our information, they are respectively the mother, the grandmother and the father of the accused.

The SPVM confirmed Saturday morning that it is indeed three homicides. “The three victims are a 53-year-old woman, a 75-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man. There is a family link between the victims and the suspect,” said agent Caroline Chèvrefils, spokesperson for the SPVM.

Arthur Galarneau has no criminal record, the SPVM also said on Saturday.

These are the third, fourth and fifth homicides in Montreal in 2023.

The muscular arrest of the young man, covered in blood, outside the duplex for sale, was filmed by witnesses. A video was posted on social media.

The police had discovered the bodies of the three victims inside the building, bearing traces of violence, “possibly caused by a sharp object”, said another spokesperson for the SPVM, Julien Lévesque.

The crime scene was the subject of a large security perimeter. Several police vehicles were at the scene and a command post was established. Neighbors were also questioned.

Employees and patients who had to go to the Montreal Heart Institute, located opposite the crime scene, were asked to go to the establishment by another access than its main entrance.

At a press briefing in his L’Assomption riding on Friday, Premier François Legault said the situation was “really troubling.”

Asked about the accumulation of fatal tragedies over the past few weeks, Mr. Legault did not want to comment on the specific case in the Rosemont district, but he pointed out that everywhere in the world there were problems related to the Mental Health.

The Prime Minister reiterated his commitment to increase the envelope reserved for mental health in the budget which will be presented next week.