Canada

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Pierre Ouellet is shown in a police handout photo. Ouellet, a convicted cop killer who disappeared from a Montreal halfway house, is on the lam and police say he's quickly committed two armed robberies.THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

A convicted cop killer who disappeared from a Montreal halfway house is on the loose and police said Monday that he has already committed two armed robberies.

Pierre Ouellet didn't return to a home in Montreal last week and, according to police, he swiftly obtained a handgun and robbed a pair of Quebec City grocery stores on Thursday and Friday.

Ouellet was sentenced to life in prison for the 1986 slaying of a Montreal police officer, Claude St-Laurent.

He had been pulled over and was able to disarm the constable before shooting him with his own service revolver near Montreal's Olympic Stadium.

A quarter-century behind bars has failed to rehabilitate him, according to police.

Quebec City police said they had surveillance video showing him brandishing a gun at the grocery stores. They have called him armed and dangerous.