The SQ deployed their Emergency Response Team (ERT), a police tactical unit, which responded to the barricade by deploying tear gas canisters and concussion grenades in an attempt to force the Mohawk to disperse. In response, gunfire ensued from both sides, and after a 15-minute gun battle the police fell back, abandoning six cruisers and a bulldozer. Although an initial account reported that 31-year-old SQ Corporal Marcel Lemay had been shot in the face during the firefight, a later inquest determined that the bullet which struck and eventually killed him struck his "left side below the armpit, an area not covered by bullet-proof vest".