Two women killed in parked vehicle behind Rivière-du-Loup restaurant

Two women were shot inside a vehicle parked behind Restaurant Normandin in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec. One was pronounced dead at the scene. The other died shortly afterward at a hospital. They were reportedly 19 and 24 years old. ^{2 9 15}

The Sûreté du Québec is investigating the deaths as a double homicide. But as of October 25, the verified reporting does not establish who killed the women, whether anyone has since been taken into custody, or a confirmed motive. An initial report that police had made no arrests is now a dated account—not an answer to the current custody question. ^{2 13}

The location is a restaurant parking area near Highway 20. Local reporting identifies the restaurant as Normandin, correcting the name rendered as “Normandé” in the initial CTV accounts. A street-number address has not been verified. ^{3 9}

The clearest dated accounts place the shooting on Thursday evening, October 22, 2026. Reports published on Friday, October 23, describe the attack as happening Thursday, and an account carried by Canada News Media explicitly identifies the evening of October 22. That is stronger dating evidence than the relative phrase “the previous night” in a CTV account published October 24, which would imply October 23. The relative wording should not be used to move the shooting forward a day. ^{4 8 10 1}

Reports of gunfire prompted calls to emergency services late that evening. La Presse and CityNews give approximately 10:45 p.m.; Mon Témiscouata, attributing its account to SQ spokesperson Sgt. Audrey-Anne Bilodeau, says a little after 10 p.m. Those descriptions establish an approximate window, not a verified exact minute. ^{5 13 9}

Patrol officers responded after people reported hearing shots, according to the Montreal Gazette’s account of Bilodeau’s comments. The newspaper also reported that the SQ’s major-crimes division was called in. The supported sequence is straightforward: gunfire was reported, officers responded, and the deaths became a major-crimes investigation. ⁶

The women’s reported ages require a separate distinction. CBC’s early October 23 account said police believed both were in their twenties. Later reporting by Le Devoir and the Journal de Montréal identified them as 19 and 24, as did the supplied CTV accounts. The later ages supersede the preliminary estimate in the reporting, but direct police confirmation of those precise ages has not been verified. ^{3 7 12 2}

The women had not been formally identified in the initial accounts. Police’s early belief that they were from the area was preliminary, not an official identification. No subsequent official identification has been verified here, and the reporting does not establish which woman died at the scene and which died at hospital. Neither outcome can responsibly be assigned to either age. ^{1 2}

The initial CTV accounts attributed a cautious position to the SQ: it was too early to determine whether the shooting was connected to organized crime or control of drug trafficking. Le Devoir’s October 23 report used a different formulation, attributing a suspected connection to the drug world to the SQ. Neither formulation amounts to a confirmed explanation of the killings. ^{1 2 7}

More specific theories appeared in other reporting, but they have not been established as police-confirmed findings. A suspected drug-world connection does not demonstrate that either woman was involved in trafficking. It also does not establish whether the women were deliberately targeted. Turning an investigative possibility into a label attached to the victims would go beyond the evidence. ^{5 12 7}

The same care is needed with arrests. CTV’s initial account published October 24 said none had been made. No later arrest or charging status has been verified as of October 25. That leaves a real information gap: it does not justify saying either that someone is now in custody or that nobody has been arrested since. ²

No current police warning, suspect description or case-specific witness appeal has been verified. That is a limit on the available information, not proof that police issued none—and not an assurance that there is no risk. The deaths in a public parking area also do not, by themselves, establish an ongoing threat to other residents. What is established is grave enough: two young women were killed, while the central questions of responsibility and motive remain unresolved in the verified reporting.