One of 2 slain in Montreal was convicted killer

MONTREAL — Police sources have confirmed that one of the victims of a double slaying Sunday was Kirk Murray, a man serving a life sentence for killing two men in 1983.

Murray killed two men during a party near a yacht club in Verdun in May 1983. According to news reports published in 1983, Murray was high on drugs and alcohol when he carried out the two murders with a rifle at the Verdun Yacht Club. Murray ordered one of his victims to beg for his life before shooting him. Shortly after his arrest he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

He was later sentenced to serve at least 15 years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole on his life sentence. He escaped while out on an escorted leave in 1993 but later surrendered himself.

The other other victim was not known to police and does not have a criminal record in Quebec.

Police also said Monday it was too early to say if the slayings are related to the Dec. 28 shooting death in the same neighbourhood of Nick Rizzuto Jr., son of reputed Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto.

Patrons of a McDonald's restaurant and the neighbouring Petro Canada gas station facing Ste. Anne de Bellevue Blvd., where it meets St. Jacques St. in the Notre Dame de Grâce neighbourhood witnessed the double homicide at about 5 p.m. Sunday.

Montreal police said they received a call that shots were fired behind the McDonald’s.

When it was over, a 47-year-old man was lying dead in the parking lot, while a 51-year-old man was dying in a car, which had slid down a small hill, and nearly ended up on the road.

When police arrived, the Hyundai Accent was facing the Canadian Tire across the street, with the hood and passenger-side front door open.

Montreal police said both men died from several gunshot wounds. The second man died in hospital.

Monday morning, Montreal police Const. Anie Lemieux said the 47-year-old was known by police, while the 51-year-old was not.

Police are looking for a suspect seen fleeing the scene after the shooting. No firm description of the suspect was available, she said.

"There were several witnesses because it was 5 p.m., it was a McDonald's and there were people around," Lemieux said. "But it was dark. Many of them just heard the shots. We have to interview them all" and compare any conflicting accounts.

On Dec. 28, according to witnesses, Rizzuto was attacked at 12:10 p.m. by a single male assailant who fled on foot west along Upper Lachine Rd. and then south along Melrose Ave. By 6 p.m., witnesses had described Rizzuto's assailant as a black male wearing a hood, a dark coat and blue jeans. there have been no arrests in the case. A police source at the time speculated that reprisals were likely to follow.

The killings were the second and third homicides on Montreal Island in 2010. At the corresponding time last year, there had been three homicides.