ON VIDEO Two police officers narrowly avoid bullets in

ON VIDEO | Two police officers narrowly avoid bullets in Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie

Two SPVM police officers narrowly escaped fire from an Uzi-style submachine gun, surveillance camera footage obtained by TVA Nouvelles shows.

• Also read: Montreal police officers targeted

Officers were responding to a call reporting a man in a state of emergency around 6.40am when a 48-year-old man opened fire on them.

In the video obtained by TVA Nouvelles, we see the two SPVM police officers knocking on the door of the family home and then covering their heads in shock.

They immediately rush down from the house’s balcony, and one of them jumps behind a tree to hide from the bullets.

The shooter, who already has a criminal record, now faces charges of possession of a prohibited firearm, assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, negligent use of a firearm, firing and carrying a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

The weapon used against the police, an Uzi-style submachine gun, is a banned model that can fire hundreds of bullets a minute, according to André Gélinas, the SPVM’s retired detective sergeant.

“It is certain that the police prevented the worst, especially given the fact that the gun appears to have jammed,” Mr Gélinas said.

A 71-year-old woman, a member of the shooter’s family, was also at the single-family home in the Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie area where the incident occurred.

“You (him) probably saved his life,” says Fady Dagher, director of the SPVM.

According to a neighbor, the police showed exemplary composure in the face of the volleys.

“They said they were there for him, they didn’t want him to feel bad,” she says.

The man is said to have shot more than once at the police, who overpowered him easily and unharmed.

“I fail for words to tell you how proud I am of the work done,” Fady Dagher wrote in an internal message after going to Neighborhood Station 38, from where the agents were dispatched.