The man killed Friday evening in a double-shooting outside a shopping mall in east-end Montreal is the presumed leader of the Bo-Gars street gang, but an expert on the city's underworld says the slaying is not likely part of an all-out gang war.

Chénier Dupuy was shot around 7 p.m. while sitting in a car with another man near the Galeries d'Anjou shopping centre. The other man was also hit, but managed to run out of the car, bleeding, into a Baton Rouge restaurant washroom, and is now in hospital in stable condition.

Witnesses said a pair of assailants attacked the men in the mall's parking garage before fleeing the scene.

Dupuy, who was in his mid-30s, is thought to have headed up the Bo-Gars for nearly two decades. The gang is part of the alliance of street gangs known as the Bloods, or Rouges, and its territory is in the neighbourhoods of Rivière-des-Prairies and Montreal North, near where Dupuy was shot.

Dupuy was on parole, having only recently left prison. He was sentenced in February 2011 to 6½ years' incarceration for possessing marijuana and cocaine for the purposes of trafficking, but had it reduced to 20 months on account of his pre-trial jail time.

Criminologist Maria Mourani, a specialist on Montreal gangs and the MP for the riding that borders on Montreal North, said the killing could be part of an internal dispute within the Bo-Gars. That would make sense if another gang member had taken control while Dupuy was imprisoned and was now trying to consolidate his position.

Dupuy's assassination might also be tied to the Mafia, Mourani told CBC's French-language news channel. Reputed Montreal Mafia kingpin Vito Rizzuto will complete a sentence in a U.S. prison this fall, when it is expected he could return to the city.

"Someone is probably trying to eliminate his middlemen before then," she said. "Is this a gang war? I don't think so…. This sounds more like the Mafia rather than a gang war."

Mourani said she wouldn't be surprised if another one of the three people shot dead this weekend in Montreal also had criminal ties.

Related on HuffPost:

Loading Slideshow

• Sandy Hook Elementary

  Molly Delaney, left, holds her 11-year-old daughter, Milly Delaney, during a service in honor of the victims who died a day earlier when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., as people gathered at St. John's Episcopal Church , Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims.

• Clackamas Town Center

  A security guard looks over the food court at the Clackamas Town Center mall as it opens, on Friday, Dec 14, 2012 in Portland, Ore. The mall is reopening, three days after a gunman killed two people and wounded a third amid a holiday shopping crowd estimated at 10,000. The shooter, Jacob Tyler Roberts, killed himself after the attack Tuesday afternoon.

• St. Vincent's Hospital Shooting

  Birmingham police arrive at the scene of a shooting at St. Vincent's Hospital on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in Birmingham, Ala. Authorities in Alabama say a man opened fire the hospital, wounding an officer and two employees before he was fatally shot by police. Birmingham Police Sgt. Johnny Williams says the officer and employees suffered injuries that are not considered life-threatening.

• Sikh Temple Shooting

  Mourners attend the funeral and memorial service for the six victims of the Sikh temple of Wisconsin mass shooting in Oak Creek, Wis., Friday, Aug 10, 2012. The public service was held in the Oak Creek High School. Three other people were wounded in the shooting last Sunday at the temple. Wade Michael Page, 40, killed five men and one woman, and injured two other men. Authorities say Page then ambushed the first police officer who responded, shooting him nine times and leaving him in critical condition. A second officer then shot Page in the stomach, and Page took his own life with a shot to the head. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

• July 2012: Aurora, Colorado

  A policeman stands outside a Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colo., where a heavily armed man opened fire, killing at least 12 people and injuring 50 others.

• May 2012: Seattle, Wash.

  Friends, family and employees react after a shooting at Cafe Racer in Seattle on May 30, 2012. A lone gunman killed four people Wednesday -- three were shot to death at a cafe, and a fourth in a carjacking. The gunman later killed himself.

• April 2012: Oakland, California

  Alameda County Community Food Bank workers move a memorial from a parking spot next to Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., Monday, April 23, 2012. Some students and staff members have arrived to resume class at Oikus University, the small California Christian college where seven people were shot to death earlier in April.

• November 2009: Fort Hood, Texas

  Panou Xiong, center, is comforted by family and friends following a Remembrance Ceremony commemorating the one-year anniversary of the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military base, where 13 people were killed and dozens wounded,, Nov. 5, 2010 in Fort Hood, Texas. Xiong's son, Pfc. Kham Xiong, was killed in the shooting. <em><strong>CORRECTION:</strong> This slide originally said that the Fort Hood shooting took place in November 2010. The shooting took place in November 2009.</em>

• March 2009: Kinston, Alabama

  The charred Kinston, Ala. living room where suspected gunman Michael McLendon allegedly killed his mother Lisa McLendon, is photographed Wednesday, March 11, 2009. Authorities were working Wednesday to learn why a gunman set off on a rampage, killing 10 people across two rural Alabama counties.

• August 2007: Blacksburg, Va.

  An unidentified family member of slain Virginia Tech student Daniel Alejandro Prez Cueva, pauses at his memorial stone after the dedication of the memorial for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting in Blacksburg, Va., Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007. More than 10,000 people gathered on the main campus lawn as Virginia Tech dedicated 32 memorial stones for those killed by a student in a mass shooting on campus last April.

• April 1999: Littleton, Colo.

  This aerial shows the news media compound near Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., April 21, 1999. Media from around the world poured into the area after 15 people were killed during a shooting spree inside the school.