A 22-year-old man from Très-Saint-Sacrement has been charged in relation to a double homicide in the town of Chute-à-Blondeau, Ontario, just east of Hawkesbury. He also faces several charges in connection with an alleged machete attack on a truck driver that took place Wednesday night.
According to a report by the CBC, Gavin Chisholm was arrested by Sûreté du Québec (SQ) officers on Highway 30 near Les Cèdres. Officers with the Quebec provincial police contacted the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to alert officers to a possible crime scene across the provincial border. OPP officers then went to a home on Principale Street in Chute-à-Blondeau where they found two people dead.
Chisholm was charged in Ontario with two counts of first-degree murder on Friday.
Chisholm faces an additional four charges in Quebec related to the alleged machete attack, including aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and mischief over $5,000 for rendering a truck and its trailer dangerous, useless, inoperative, or ineffective.
In a statement, the OPP confirmed the investigation into the double homicide is being conducted jointly between the Hawkesbury OPP Crime Unit and the SQ, under the direction of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch, in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario and Centre of Forensic Sciences.
Alleged machete attack
According to a SQ news release, police were called to the scene of an abandoned vehicle on Highway 30 near a toll booth in Les Cèdres on April 19, around 8:30 p.m. Witnesses reported seeing a suspicious person get into the back of a truck. A few minutes later, police were called about an alleged assault on the driver of the truck on the highway.
According to the CBC, SQ officers arrested Chisholm, who was in medical distress and wearing no clothes, after subduing him with a conducted-energy weapon. Both he and the truck driver were taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The SQ has also accused Chisholm of being involved in a hit-and-run that occurred a few minutes before the attack on the truck driver.
According to the CBC, it was roughly an hour after the driver was attacked that the SQ contacted the OPP concerning the crime scene in Chute-à-Blondeau. The OPP said the identities of the deceased have not been confirmed and that post-mortem examinations are being conducted.
Radio-Canada is reporting that the suspect is related to at least one of the victims. (Gleaner Staff)
