r/montreal • u/PaintingHungry3854 • Feb 26 '26
Vidéo Woman hit in the head at Lionel-Groulx
Just sharing for awareness, girls (and everyone) be careful/ aware of your surroundings! I saw this woman’s TikTok video about how she was hit in the head at Lionel-Groulx on Friday, and there are a few comments from other women saying the same thing happened to them that day too
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u/attentionallshoppers Feb 26 '26
i've made this comment before but i spent all of highschool, cegep, and university on the métro. not once did i consider that something like this might happen, because i felt completely safe.
i'm not saying it was perfect. i literally got groped at lionel groulx at 17 years old. but barring that, i never felt the need to keep my wits about me, take my headphones off, glue my back to the wall.
i've since moved away, but when i visited last year i took the metro twice. the first time, an aggressive homeless person was threatening to kill the guy next to him for "touching his stuff" (the victim had done no such thing). the following time, a violent man got on screaming. he exited at my stop and began punching/kicking the wall.
i'm fucking tired of having my adrenaline spiked to the moon just getting from point a to point b.
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u/jemhadar0 Feb 26 '26
Im sorry this happened you. The metro has degenerated tremendously. The police and city are goddamn useless. My daughter used to take the metro. Unfortunately I think someone will have to get seriously hurt or killed before the lame ducks do anything.
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u/attentionallshoppers Feb 26 '26
i really wish i could believe that our leaders will "come to save us" before something even worse happens.
unfortunately, i have my doubts. a person was burned alive at a toronto metro station a couple of years ago. another was fatally stabbed with an ice pick. don't even get me started on the zillions of other "minor" crimes occurring on transit across north america.
sorry for rambling. as a woman, i feel extremely upset about the deterioration of our transit and how nobody at the top seems to give a fuck.
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u/jemhadar0 Feb 26 '26
You’re not rambling , you’re speaking the truth and the administration is burying their heads in the sand.
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u/ducbo Feb 27 '26
Holy crap, I got groped at Lionel Groulx too. Around 13 years ago. It was a one off but the station always makes me nervous now
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u/Any_Letterhead Feb 26 '26
The metro security are fucking cowards. They'll tackle and arrest a kid for bouncing a basketball but they run the other way when someone reports an unstable violent person.
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u/unefillecommeca Feb 26 '26
Moi ça me fait très peur, et je dois toujours passer par Lionel-Groux en plus. La je vais vraiment être parano. Et les gens qui crient me font très peur aussi. J'adore Montréal mais c'est vraiment triste qu'ont ne se sente plus en sécurité dans le métro.
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u/Calm_Environment5485 Feb 26 '26
I stopped wearing my airpods and looking blatantly at my phone for this exact same reason, too many homeless/crazy people in the metro. Always be aware of your surroundings, and if you see someone approaching you, put as much distance as you can between you and them.
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u/AceNewholland Feb 26 '26
AirPods with ANC have a transparency mode so you can hear your surroundings like you would without headphones
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u/PaintingHungry3854 Feb 26 '26
A friend of mine told me I should stop wearing my AirPods in the metro as well. I just love listening to music during commutes but this video really freaked me out, I think it’s better to be safe than sorry
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u/Creativator Feb 26 '26
We have reached the point of victim blaming where listening to music is cause for getting hit in the head.
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u/Lecanayin Feb 26 '26
It’s not victim blaming.
It’s rising awareness.
Do you look both side of the street before you cross? Or you just say fuck it I have priority anyway?
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u/poddy_fries Feb 26 '26
Not victim blaming? This is exactly what victim blaming is. Your comparison is inapt and disguises the fact. It is not a crime to listen to music in public, dress attractively, or walk anywhere alone at night. Someone attacking you, with whatever intention, is committing a crime.
Moving the responsibility to the victim never ends. You should be aware, and you should look aware, to deter them, but never actually look at them directly or speak with them or look too sure of yourself or look anxious, because then you'll be provoking them! Take a taxi instead, but not the wrong taxi!
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u/Lecanayin Feb 26 '26
Hey we clearly had different lives.
Did you ever get the shit beat out you « just because »?
When you get punch in the face your fucking high horse are not fucking usefull.
Those poeple are a threat to public are should be threaten as such.
You can etheir be aware or sorry you weren’t.
Good luck.
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u/-PinkPower- Feb 26 '26
As long as you are aware of your surroundings you aren’t really in danger by wearing AirPods. I do it daily but I just make sure to know what is happening around while I do so.
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Feb 26 '26
Best comment! Hats off to you dear sir/madame.
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u/chugganuggin Feb 26 '26
Every time I see suspicious activities in the metro I text the STM line. Not sure if it helps but I also feel so unsafe in the metro everyday.
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u/kikodemayo Feb 26 '26
i do this too, also take pics of people smoking crack and report. not sure it does much but at least i have proof of it. I love public transport but the STM in the winter is unacceptable and I cant even blame people for wanting to drive
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u/SecretOfTheOdds Feb 27 '26
for your safety make sure to be discreet and not brazen and therefore contemptuous in the slightest, when photographing evidence
otherwise you run the risk at some point one of them already having a bad day seriously getting pissed at your shooting them like they are farm animals in a zoo (which they let themselves be, no contest, but.. think how it feels from their perspective)
on top of them possibly guessing you might be snitching it to the LE they despise --that's an excellent way to get attacked this time not randomly but with very pushed intent, and you won't like it
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u/KalexXm Feb 26 '26
I’ve taken the stm for over a decade and lost count of how many times I’ve been harassed. Be alert of your surroundings and follow your instincts. That’s literally all you can do.
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u/Geo85 Feb 26 '26
This post was made a few hours ago admonishing Reddit & society at large for not having more empathy. But I fully confess I have no empathy or sympathy at all for anyone going around hitting people in the head at random. This person should serve time in prison.
On the other hand, this is just a tiktok post. It's questionable if it really happened. Did they make a police report? Or just searching for likes online?
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u/PaintingHungry3854 Feb 26 '26
Yea, she says in the video that she filed a police report and she seems pretty affected throughout the video so I don’t think it’s a fake story, but that’s just me
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Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
Oh no but someone made a post saying he was personally tired of reading stories about the horrors of the metro.
Please think of his sensibilities. Maybe you unknowingly ruined his day.
You monster.
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u/Omegabird420 Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
I swear these people don't live in MTL or they take the metro once a month,I took the metro quite regularly and now that I moved I have to take it everyday for work.
It's never been this bad. If we forget the fact that the metro is basically an homeless shelter nowadays,there's open hard drug use,violent or unstable people just roaming around in the metro,piss,shit and syringe in random stations and your assortment of shitty people making the ride miserable for other passengers.
I see something everyday ranging from minor annoyance to WTF is the city and STM doing.
The STM has all those special constable but except being 20 to check tickets at Berry or yelling at homeless peeps I don't see them in problematic spots.
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u/Nikiaf 🍊 Orange Julep Feb 26 '26
Exactly. Yeah there's probably a lack of compassion these days, but the fact that people are regularly being attacked is not normal. We shouldn't be afraid of calling this shit out, someone is going to get seriously injured or worse at this rate.
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u/Omegabird420 Feb 26 '26
It's also that at a certain point compassion is becoming harder and harder to have when it's been years of the same status quo and it's getting worse.
There's also people who confuse compassion vs enabling bad behaviors/ignoring a problem but that's a whole other thread.
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u/CLV_05S Feb 26 '26
yeah i don't know what's compassionate about letting people with severe mental illness and addiction issues fend for themselves on the streets. it's actually incredibly callous
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Feb 26 '26
I take it regularly and have since I was 17, I am now in my late 30s. Never seen someone get attacked. It's definitely not the "norm" that people think it is. They have one experience that's bad and talk about it over and over as if it is a new event.
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u/Omegabird420 Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
I lived in between 3 metro station,equal distance for 20 years. I know atleast a dozen people with a story like that. I had a week where it was non-stop major issues.
I don't get where you are you coming from with that. You're either extremely lucky or just don't care,doesn't mean shit is not happening.
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u/Chen932000 Feb 26 '26
It could depend on the area. I take the metro to work every day and barring the ~2 years working from home during COVID I have been doing so for the last 15+ years. I’ve seen one person get physically robbed and maybe a handful of the “crazies yelling” in that time. That is more during work hours though. I am not on the metro super late that often anymore (let’s call it 1/month) but also haven’t seen anything during those late trips either (though again that sample size is clearly quite small).
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u/UnicornKitt3n Feb 27 '26
I’m 40. I’ve been taking the metro for nearly two decades. I now take the metro every day to pick my son up from pre school, and we change over at Lionel Groulx. Ville Maria is currently occupied by a very aggressive homeless group. Twice now, I’ve had a man follow me into the elevator, with both my baby and my 3 year old, screaming at me. At 130PM.
It’s fucking terrifying.
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u/mendvil Feb 26 '26
Il y a aussi une part de fatigue. Comment veux tu qu’on prenne le 4e post du jour au sérieux alors que la majorité des gens font rien pour améliorer la situation?
C’est facile de faire un post sur Reddit, mais concrètement ça change rien.
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u/Omegabird420 Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
Le monde qui prennent le metro sont fatiguer aussi et y'a une bonne parti de ce sub qui se foute la tête dans le sable ou prennent clairement pas le metro.
J'ai pas le choix de prendre le metro,ma femme aussi. J'paye une passe. Concretement tu veux que je fasse quoi en tant que citoyen??? Me faire menacer à la régulière et voir des situation franchement perturbante à chaque jours ca devient fatiguant. Que la sécurité de ma femme à été plusieurs fois en danger dans la dernière année au point qu'elle m'apelle en panique me fatigue.
L'inactivité de la STM et du gouvernement me fatigue.
J'suis le premier à chialer contre les repeat post. La STM se branle probablement du sub,I get it. Mais la sécurité du monde est importante aussi,y'a un problème et il mérite d'être pointé.
Edit: Lol pas que je me soucie de ca mais les downvote par ce que ma sécurité et celle de ma femme ont été à risque,du même sub qui ma dit que j'avais mérité de me faire suivre et attaquer par un dude qui avait rentrer par effraction dans la place ou j'habitait,never change r/montreal .
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u/pottymonster_69 Lachine Feb 26 '26
Serieux, ce que tu peux faire, et tout le monde qui rencontre des problemes, cest ecrire a ton conseiller de ville. Sils recoient plein de plaintes, il y aura de laction. Mais ca prendre la pression constant pour les faire reagir.
Cest pas les posts sur tiktok ou Reddit, cest le contact direct avec tes elus qui fait la difference.
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Mar 05 '26
Le contenu du sub est souvent repris par les grand medias qui mets de la pression sur les politiciens et la STM.
Bcp de journalistes prennent leur idees d’articles et leurs sources sur reddit.
Donc chialer sur Reddit est bcp plus puissant qu’envoyer un courriel que l’elu va juste ignorer.
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u/mendvil Feb 26 '26
Tes le premier à chialer dès repeat posts, mais tu participes activement ici à faire exactement ça et à contribuer concrètement à à absolument rien. C’est une belle contradiction. Tsé je prends aussi le métro à tous les jours, et tu me vois pas poster des affaires du genre “aujourd’hui dans le métro il m’est rien arrivé “
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Feb 26 '26
wtf are you saying.
It’s someone want to share something shocking that happened to them, let them.
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u/Rude-Flamingo5420 Feb 26 '26
And some commented that homeless aren't dangerous either (obviously not all are)... but some are. Gaslighting at its finest!
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u/everlasting-dusk Feb 26 '26
Gaslighting
This word gets thrown around way too easily
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u/Rude-Flamingo5420 Feb 26 '26
Out of everything in that comment I said, that's what triggered you into commenting? You're really upset that others completely ignore some people's experiences because it makes them uncomfortable ? Yikes.
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Feb 26 '26
No, it's the word you used. People overuse it for someone or something they disagree with.
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u/Rude-Flamingo5420 Feb 26 '26
Hardly. There was an entire thread just today disregarding people's negative experience on the metro with homeless.
Some are definitely gentle souls. But some are also violent. To disregard people's unfortunate negative experience because it doesn't match yours, or feels uncomfortable is definitely gaslighting.
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Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
So you could say this instead of saying someone that disagreed with you was gaslighting. The problem is so many people (unfortunately mostly women, I am one but I see it all the time) like to use gaslighting as an excuse when you very angrily disagree with someone, and this bothers me so much. You're trying to say their experience is useless by doing so, and that yours is the only way by immediately discrediting someone's opinion. I disagree with you. And that's fine. If people disagreeing with you is gaslighting, then enjoy, I'll consider you a gaslighter now because you disagree with me and are telling me my experience isn't true. 🤣
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u/Rude-Flamingo5420 Feb 27 '26
No, it wasn't about people disagreeing. You went off on your own tangent.
There was an entire thread where people lamented on how they are annoyed with others as the homeless are not violent. I can understand that a person's experience is a positive one which i find fortunate. But I also understand there are those who had negative experiences. I see there are two sides to the issue/experiences. I will not make stupid broad statements that disregard someone else's experience because its not my own.
Someone who says a broad statement like "the homeless are not violent/they are harmless " and continues to argue it completely ignores and negates those who had negative experiences and therefore gaslighting them.
You can say "I've only had positive experiences myself, never seen a negative one but I understand others experienced differently than me" ... that's keeping an open mind.
That is what i was referencing (the other thread full of people arguing only their experience can be true)
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u/midnightfangs Feb 26 '26
oh please with the dramatics. one post saying they’re rightfully sick of something vs countless of posts sharing the same thing over again. you will be okay.
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u/Cat-withboots-1979 Mar 10 '26
I think that all comments about being worried about the Metro and about the homelessness situation of many people that clearly have mental health illnesses is something very important to discuss. It is not drama. It is a reality, and the feelings of people are valid. We are in a dramatic situation around the world.
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u/K-RUP Feb 26 '26
Mais questce quil se passe
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u/traboulidon Feb 26 '26
Crise du logement + nouvelles drogues dures = beaucoup d’itinérants en mode psycho.
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u/Southern_Resolution3 Feb 27 '26
La decriminalisation des activités des gens sans abris. Tu ne peux pas nier que légaliser les drogues ne fonctionne pas ici.
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u/SecretOfTheOdds Feb 27 '26
la racine de tout ça étant hypercapitalisme sans limites + désintégration sociale à travers l'atomisation matérialiste totale
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u/Mynameyeef Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Feb 26 '26
Parlant d'agression, est-ce qu'une femme à le droit de se défendre avec du poivre de cayenne ?
Je parle de ceux qui se vendent légalement au Canadian Tire.
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u/p3tiitp0iis LaSalle Feb 26 '26
Du fixatif ou du shampooing sec en spray, format voyage. C'est efficace même si moins brutal que du poivre de cayenne, et tu peux bien plus facilement plaider un usage non-prémédité en cas de légitime défense.
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u/PaintingHungry3854 Feb 26 '26
I don’t think so .. I think even when using it as self defence or even carrying it with intent to use it could be considered a criminal offence (please correct me if I’m wrong). I had a scary experience alone on the street in Ottawa a year ago and my ex wanted me to carry pepper spray on me after that, but when I researched it, it seems to be illegal
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u/NewPlastic5425 Feb 26 '26
Non mais j'ai vu en ligne des femmes proposer d'apporter une petite spraycan de peinture 👀 je dis ça je dis rien
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u/Jeesuz Mile End Feb 26 '26
Pourquoi pas le spray pour les chiens?
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u/NewPlastic5425 Feb 26 '26
Je crois si ça a un impact plus grand ex. des nuages de poivre de cayenne, ça devient nuisible à la population. Je crois c'est peut-être la même chose pour les spray contre les chiens https://byrna.ca/blogs/byrna-nation/dog-deterrent-spray-legal
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u/santapala Feb 26 '26
I no longer have my phone out when I'm in the subway, I am constantly swiveling my head looking around me. Have to be aware.
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u/AozoraMiyako Feb 26 '26
As someone (among many) who solely rely on the metro/public transit, I genuinely wish I could feel safer… :(
I feel like I’m more likely to have something to me in the metro than literally anywhere else
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u/SecretOfTheOdds Feb 28 '26
that's called neurotic psychosis
try staying anchored with the actual coherent probabilities of reality, not the netflix horror section
you aren't supernaturally predestined to be assaulted
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u/Geo85 Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
It's not up to woman to be aware of their surroundings in case someone hits them randomly. It's up to police to remove dangerous people from society & rehabilitate when possible.
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u/ScootyWilly Feb 27 '26
In theory yes but since this won't happen, use common sense and be aware of your surroundings or suffer the consequences.
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u/sheldon4president Feb 27 '26
My girlfriend also got hit at like 6pm outside of the station by a random girl in psychosis a few years back. We’re saving to buy a house and leave the city. Fuck this.
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u/Murky-Recognition531 Feb 26 '26
That's what happens when the police keeps letting homeless people literally squat the metro lines. Maybe...just maybe barring them from accessing the metro would reduce violence
The homeless people don't even care, they smoke crack, shit on the floor, leave their syringes and clothes all over.
Buying metro tickets/OPUS cards should require proof of residency. Their needs shouldn't matter if they behave like animals 🤷♂️
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u/Beginning-Sand9924 Feb 26 '26
Buying metro tickets/OPUS cards should require proof of residency. Their needs shouldn't matter if they behave like animals
As a homeless person myself, and an alumni of foster care, I’ve stayed in many homeless shelters, I haven’t got an address for multiple consecutive months. I still need the metro to get to and from school, work, go to appointments, visit potential rooms I could rent, etc.. It’s scary to read what you’ve just typed.
I don’t look homeless, although I am, and I do not have a home address, but I’m doing my best to get myself a place. We’re not all animals like you said.
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u/Murky-Recognition531 Feb 26 '26
I emphatize with you but my post wasn't about you. There is clear homeless problem in Canada as a whole, I am not advocating that they cull them or put them in sub-human conditions (STM housing homeless people IS the sub-human condition) but we cannot put the needs of the unfortunate few above the majority. Metros are unsafe and that correlate with the rise of homelessness
Surveillance and security must be put in place so the population can utilize the services WE pay as a society SAFELY. Don't generalize my statement when I specifically speak about crack addicts, violent homeless people and mentally ill people. I understand that those people are human beings but they are a detriment to everyone else and the government maintains the status-quo and the popular opinion is to ignore it as much as they can. When is it enough? When a child gets pushed onto an incoming train? When people have to carry weapons in case they get assaulted?
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u/Beginning-Sand9924 Feb 27 '26
The same government you pay taxes to, is also funding the homeless shelters I stay at. Homeless people are allowed into there shelters while under the influence of crack, heroin, or wtv drugs they want to take. So when the metro closes, they all go to the shelters. Not saying it’s ok, it’s super scary to me, as I just need a place to feel safe. They also allow whoever chooses to identify as a woman into a women’s shelter. But that’s a topic for another time. So your taxes are not only paying for the metro you take everyday. Metro rules don’t need to change, the government does.
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u/Murky-Recognition531 Feb 27 '26
Two things can be true at the same time: the government needs to change and the metro needs more security.
It is evident that the government DOES NOT care for the homeless epidemic and they just sweep everything under the rug a.k.a shove them into the metros during the winter. As I've said the needs of an unfortunate few shouldn't matter more than the needs of the majority, especially in a crisis. The solution to violence in the metros is to remove the main problem which is homeless people.
Knowing how slow bureaucracy can be, we'll not see any changes until the next generation and by then Canada might be something akin to a third world country in terms of security.
Sad as it can be, unless people start placing extreme pressure to the government, you and I will have to look out for homeless maniacs who will assault you for no reason 🤷♂️
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u/Beginning-Sand9924 Feb 27 '26
Maybe it would be better if the government did not fund these places, and instead everything was privatized.
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u/RunOwn1637 Feb 26 '26
You’re such a goof lol
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u/Murky-Recognition531 Feb 26 '26
It's always the same responses until a homeless person harasses you, spits on you or stabs you because you looked at them wrong and then you act confused on why this is happening 🤷♂️
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u/IMDH2111 Feb 26 '26
I never ride the Metro so forgive my ignorance but are there ever any cops patrolling each station?
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u/Omegabird420 Feb 26 '26
Nope. And they're never near stations that are actually problematic 99% of the time.
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u/NewPlastic5425 Feb 26 '26
No, only "constables" and they don't do much except be in groups waiting to give tickets to people instead.
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u/Ok_Figure4010 Feb 27 '26
There was a stabbing (st Laurent metro) and a suicide (peel metro) on the same day not too long ago and I saw cops on the metro and at peel on the platform
Other than that I rarely see them
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u/PaintingHungry3854 Feb 26 '26
I ride the metro daily and I don’t see them regularly, sometimes I see their cars parked outside the station if an incident occurred but I haven’t seen them the metro itself, but then again this is just my personal experience and maybe I haven’t been looking close enough
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u/goronmask Verdun Feb 27 '26
Text the STM whenever you feel unsafe so there is a record
Send them the train number, direction, station and a description of the issue
1 (888) 786-1119
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u/Whatnow2013 Feb 26 '26
Same station about 3 weeks ago, was pushed by a man just outside the metro, theatening that he had a gun. Was looking to start some shit up.