By Allison Lampert and Ismail Shakil
MONTREAL (RockedBuzz via Reuters) – A city bus driver is facing charges of first-degree murder after his vehicle crashed into a day care center on the outskirts of Montreal Wednesday, killing two children and injuring six others.
Police did not provide a cause for the crash, but did file charges of murder and assault against 51-year-old Pierre Ny St-Amand. Authorities said the driver had worked for the public transit system for 10 years and had no criminal record.
The six children who were taken to hospital suffered no life-threatening injuries, police said.
The incident happened around 8:30am (1:30pm GMT), when children are usually dropped off by their parents at daycare centers. Authorities have not confirmed the children’s ages, but according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, about 80 children under the age of 5 are attending daycare.
News of the tragedy at Laval’s Sainte Rose Day Care Center spread to the suburban area best known for its historic homes.
“It’s a close-knit community,” said Christopher Skeete, who represents Sainte Rose in the Quebec National Assembly. “For something like this to happen is devastating.”
Skeete said he has yet to hear anything from police about a motive.
“When you leave your children in kindergarten for a day, you know they are in good hands… when an event like this can happen, it shakes us and shatters us,” Quebec’s minister of families, Suzanne Roy, said in a statement. with reporters near the scene of the accident.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as Quebec Premier Francois Legault, expressed their condolences to the families following the incident.
“No words can take away the pain and fear that parents, children and workers feel, but we are here for you,” Trudeau said.
Laval is located about 30 km (20 mi) northwest of Montreal in Quebec, Canada’s second most populous province.
(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Denny Thomas and Jonathan Oatis)
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