Jeremy Mack was mourning when he was killed
Children being cared for after city’s 10th homicide of the year
Jeremy Mack was still mourning a terrible tragedy in his life when he became the victim of another one.
Mack, 36, was stabbed to death Saturday, and police have made one arrest in the city’s 10th homicide of 2016.
The name of the accused was not released Sunday.
According to numerous postings on his Facebook page, Mack was mourning the death of his partner and the mother of his children, Jasmine Gagnon, who died in January.
Mack’s Facebook page reads like a tribute to Gagnon. The couple had two children together, daughter Olivia and son Anthony.
“I miss you Jazz so much we all do especially your handsome son Tony. We think of you every day more than you will ever know. Send good thoughts out to you,” he wrote recently.
A relative of Gagnon said the children were being cared for but did not want to divulge any information out of concern “for the security of the children.” Police have been “reluctant” to share much information, the relative said, while they continue to investigate.
Attempts to reach Mack’s family in Abbotsford, B.C., were unsuccessful.
Police launched their investigation after neighbours reported hearing gunfire on Winthrop Private, in the city’s west end, at 4:48 p.m. Saturday. Paramedics arrived to find Mack suffering from multiple stab wounds to his upper body.
A gun was recovered from the scene, but it was not believed to have been used in the killing.
Mack had no vital signs and was rushed to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
The death occurred at a block of multi-level rowhouses along Winthrop Private, a small residential street off Richmond Road.
A handful of residents from neighbouring apartments gathered at the scene. A resident of a unit on Winthrop said she doesn’t feel very safe after the killing.
“That’s terrible somebody died, it really is. It is the ghettos. You gotta be safe at all times. A lot of drug dealers and stuff, so I don’t go out at all,” she said.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation was asked to call the major crime unit at 613236-1222, ext. 5493. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers toll free at 1-800222-8477 (TIPS) or by downloading the Ottawa police app.
Saturday’s killing came almost two weeks to the day after the city’s ninth homicide of 2016. Early in the morning of Sunday, July 10, Montreal teenager Tarique Leger was gunned down in Lowertown. Leger, 19, was shot in the chest.
With five months left to go in the year, Ottawa’s homicide total for 2016 is now three more than it was in each of the past two years.