Police shooting sparks Montreal riot

MONTREAL, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Provincial police in Quebec, Canada, were investigating weekend racial riots that overtook a north Montreal neighborhood after a youth was shot dead by police.

Hundreds of riot police were deployed Sunday into early Monday as roving gangs of youths torched a fire station, cars and garbage containers, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

The violence stemmed from the fatal police shooting Saturday of 18-year-old Honduran immigrant Freddy Villenueva, The Gazette newspaper said.

Two other youths were shot after they claimed a group of 20 youths began closing in on them as they were questioning Villenueva in a predominantly Haitian immigrant neighborhood, the newspaper said. The shots killed Villenueva while the other two youths were recovering in hospital, local media said.

In looting violence early Monday, two police officers were injured, one by a bullet to the leg, and a paramedic also was slightly hurt, CJAD-AM radio reported.