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National Post

Quebec man gets life sentences for 'senseless and heinous' fatal 2023 truck attack

A Quebec man who drove into pedestrians with his pickup truck in a rural town, killing three people and injuring nine others, was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury Saturday. Article content Steeve Gagnon, 40, was immediately sentenced to life in prison minutes after learning his fate as the jury returned following two days of deliberations with unanimous verdicts. Article content Article content Gagnon was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder of three men and two counts of attempted murder of nine other people in March 2023 in Amqui, about 350 kilometres northeast of Quebec City. Article content Article content Three men were killed in the attack: 65-year-old Gerald Charest, 73-year-old Jean Lafreniere and 41-year-old Simon-Guillaume Bourget. The nine who were injured included children. Article content Quebec Superior Court Justice Louis Dionne thanked the jury for their service and sentenced Gagnon to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years on the murder charges and 10 years for each of the attempted murder charges, to be served concurrently. Article content 'Your crimes are senseless and heinous; no punishment will be able to bring Gerald, Jean and Simon-Guillaume back to their families or erase the pain and harm caused,' the judge said. Article content 'But we can hope that the trial that has just concluded will go some way toward mourning this tragedy.' Article content Article content Article content The Crown had painted the accused as an angry and frustrated man who was jobless, unhappy with life and struggling with money problems and health issues. Article content Article content It argued the acts that led to the deaths were intentional and premeditated, saying Gagnon had formed and adapted a plan that resulted in pedestrians being run down on the road as he accelerated his truck onto the sidewalk. Article content Prosecutor Simon Blanchette replayed parts of videos Gagnon made on his cellphone two days before, in which he described how he would run down dozens of children with his truck in three Amqui schools and then go wait at the police station. Article content Gagnon drove to a schoolyard just before the fatal drive, Blanchette said, but it was empty since there were no classes that day. So the prosecution said he executed his plan by striking down people on the busy boulevard instead. Article content Gagnon, according to the prosecution, 'developed a plan to take revenge on society.'