The Montreal police have obtained warrants to arrest two men linking them to the fatal shooting of a young man who was killed in inside a Mile End bar more than three years ago.
Steven Célestin, 23, was killed on June 7, 2014, when he was shot during a party inside the Cabaret du Mile End in front of several witnesses. Last month, Célestin’s father, Fritzner, complained to La Presse that the prosecutor’s bureau, the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, was sitting on the case and had done nothing with it for more than a year after having been handed the results of the investigation by the Montreal police major crimes division.
The murder is believed to be related to a dispute between Montreal street gangs and Célestin is the cousin of Jean-Philippe Célestin, 37, an influential street gang member who is currently awaiting his sentence in a major drug trafficking case at the Montreal courthouse.
The man accused of second-degree murder in Steven Célestin’s death, Moise Regino Magloire, 27, was arrested in 2015 with known street gang members. He pleaded guilty, in January, to armed robbery and received an overall sentence of 20 months. When the time he had already served was subtracted from his sentence he was left with a one-month prison term that expired in February.
The other man sought in the case, Wilphix Gourdet Laverdure, 28, does not appear to have a criminal record. Laverdure is not charged in connection with the homicide but is alleged to have possessed a firearm, a Beretta 9 mm handgun, when Célestin was killed. Another charge alleges Laverdure used the handgun in a negligent manner.
A spokesperson with the Montreal police said he was unable to comment on the warrants because information about the case was unavailable to the media relations department.
