3 homicides in 4 months: What's happening in Laval?

Ferdinando Belmonte's death on Tuesday is Laval's third homicide of 2016. Just halfway into the year, it's already more than the city's average of two per year.

• 22-year-old man found dead inLaval's Saint-Vincent-de-Paul district

Belmonte was found by police in front of a duplex on Lvesque Boulevard around 8 p.m.and was pronounced dead on the scene.

"The injuries he suffered were due to either gunshots or a knife," said Laval police spokesmanFranco Di Genova.

A Laval 2015 police report shows that the city has had an average of two homicides per year, for the past five years.

Other homicides have Mafia connection

2016's murders began with the shooting of Lorenzo GiordanoonMarch 1.

• Rizzuto 'underboss' shot dead in Laval
• Reputed high-ranking Montreal Mafia memberkilled in Laval

Giardano was a high-ranking member of the Rizutto crime familydescribed by an RCMP witness at the Charbonneau commission as an "underboss."

Three months later, Rocco Sollecito, another reputed high-ranking member of the Rizzuto crime family, was shot and killed.

The Rizzuto crime family, which has long been considered one of the most powerful in Canada, has been in an extended period of upheaval.

DiGenovasaid that he expected more Mafia-relatedmurders to come in Laval.

However, hesaidhe doesn't think Belmonte's death fits the pattern of Giardano and Sollecito's killings.

"The first two [homicides] were related to organized crime. This one here, the young man is not known to us, as far as I can tell no criminal history, so it's not connected," Di Genovasaid.

Gunshots heard Tuesday evening

On Tuesday evening, gunshots were heard twice in the St-Franois section of Laval, about three kilometresfromthe spot whereBelmonte was found.

Again, Di Genova said theywerenot likely connectedto Belmonte's death.

"We did have gunshots in the last few weeks in the area, but at this point, there's nothing relating those incidents with the incident we have here," he said.

Police have not found any witnesses to the incidents.

Laval police plan to set up a command post on Monte du Moulin in St-Franois on Thursday and Friday evening, in the hope that anyone who knows anything will stop by to speak with investigators.