Stabbing in St-Michel grocery store leaves 20-year-old woman dead

A 20-year-old woman is dead after being stabbed while at work ata grocery store in Montreal's VilleraySaint-MichelParc-Extension borough Sunday evening.

Clmence Beaulieu-Patry, an employee at the Maxi grocery store near the intersection of Papineau Avenue and Crmazie Boulevard East, was working in the clothing section of the store when she was stabbed in the neck.

She died shortly after.

Police said the attack happened at around 8:30 p.m. last night, in front of customers.

"As the officers arrived on scene, they located a 20-year-old woman on the ground. She was in distress," said Montreal police spokesman Const. Abdullah Emran.

The male suspect fled on foot.

It is not clear whether the victim and the suspect knew each other.

Beaulieu-Patry has been a Maxiemployee since 2013.

Loblaws, the company that runs the grocery store, released a statement offering its condolences to Beaulieu-Patry's family.

"The store has put in place increased security measures," itsaid, adding that the store will reopen for business Tuesday morning.

About 30 people were working at the store at the time of the attack. Their union has offered counselling.

Surveillance video

Police say they have surveillance video from the store that shows the suspect, a black manbetween25 and 30 years old.

Technicians are trying to improve the quality of the video so they can get a better descriptionof thesuspect.

A number of customers who witnessed the attack were kept in a bus during the night to be interviewed by major crime investigators.

"They were there for a long time,"Emran said. "The investigators had a lot of people to meet with so they were there for a good part of the night. They were moved to the Centre Operationnel Nord after a while. So they had facilities, bathrooms and so on."

Police also searched for the suspect with the help of a dog team.

A perimeter had been set up around thestore while police conducted their investigation.

This is Montreal's second homicide of 2016.