Randy Tshilumba charged with 1st-degree murder in Maxi store stabbing death

Randy Tshilumba, 19, has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Clémence Beaulieu-Patry at a Maxi grocery store.

Tshilumba appeared in court Wednesday afternoon, where he was formally charged.

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He was arrested without resistance by a police SWAT team late Tuesday night at the residence on Davidson Street, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood.

In an interview with CBC Montreal's Homerun Wednesday, Montreal police Cmdr. Ian Lafrenière alleged Tshilumba met with Beaulieu-Patry days before she was killed Sunday evening during her shift at the Maxi grocery store on Papineau Avenue near Crémazie Boulevard.

"What was the purpose of this [meeting], what was said, we don't know," he said. 

Lafrenière said Tshilumba and Beaulieu-Patry attended the same high school, but had no romantic history.

​He said police were able to identify the suspect after combing through roughly 80 tips from the public.

"We received so many tips from witnesses that we were able to track the suspect from the location of the homicide to his home," Lafrenière said.

"It's not a record, but this is a lot for us for the past 48 hours," he said of the 80 tips.

Beaulieu-Patry was working in the clothing section of the Maxi store when she was stabbed in the neck. She died shortly after.

The attack happened at around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, in front of customers.

Gabriel-Shawan Raymond-Ponce is a friend of Beaulieu-Patry.

"She was an angel," he said.

Raymond-Ponce said he's relieved police have charged someone for the stabbing death of his friend, but it won't bring her back. 

The homicide was Montreal's second of the year.