Slain Montreal officer André Lalonde remembered 30 years later, case still unsolved

Thirty years after Montreal police constable André Lalonde was gunned down during a routine traffic stop in Senneville, his killer remains free and the case stays open. Dozens of officers, family members, and West Island residents gathered Wednesday at the exact intersection where Lalonde died on April 29, 1996, after pulling over a driver for a loud muffler on Senneville Road. The 30-year veteran officer approached the vehicle only to have the driver pull a gun and fire three shots. Lalonde was rushed to Lakeshore General Hospital but died hours later. He had just weeks left before retirement and wasn't even scheduled to work that day — he'd been called in as a favor. The ceremony, complete with a police motorcade rolling through the quiet suburban streets, brought the tragedy back to the forefront for a community that remembers. Family members placed flowers beside the memorial plaque as his son Patrick recalled the moment his world changed forever. He was in CEGEP when the school director pulled him from class, leading to two officers waiting to escort him to the hospital. "I thought it was a car accident or something. But I never thought it was because he was killed by a guy with three shots," he told Global News. Nicole Lalonde, the officer's widow, shared that André had started his policing career just days after their wedding. "We're married the Saturday and he started on the Monday," she remembered. That final morning, she gave him the same send-off she always did: "I said, okay, take care." For West Islanders, Lalonde's story hits particularly close to home. This wasn't some distant tragedy — it happened on roads we drive daily, in a community where everyone knows someone who knew him. SPVM Station 1 commander Eric Gosselin noted that Lalonde's photo still hangs in their conference room. "Every day we see him, and he's watching us." The investigation continues three decades later, a reminder that some wounds in our tight-knit community never fully heal. But in a place where we still wave to our neighbors and remember our own, André Lalonde's legacy endures — even if his killer's identity remains as elusive as a parking spot at Fairview during the holidays.