Push is on to close ‘magnet of criminal activity’
Ottawa’s police chief says the west-side African eatery where a man was gunned down on Sunday morning has been a “magnet of criminal activity” since it opened three years ago and needs to be to shut down.
Chief Charles Bordeleau said there have been more than 100 calls for police service to The Suya Spot on Shillington Avenue, ranging from illegal liquor sales and public intoxication to shootings and assaults.
“We are very frustrated with that club. It needs to be shut down,” Bordeleau said at the police services board meeting Monday evening.
On Sunday morning, 26-year-old Abdi Jama was fatally wounded in the parking lot outside The Suya Spot, the fourth incident involving gun violence outside the restaurant in the past three years.
Residents of the area have been vocal in their desire to see the establishment closed. Hours after the shooting, Riley Brockington, city councillor for the ward, also called for it to be closed.
Brockington said the property’s landlord had requested a meeting to discuss The Suya Spot and told him that it will be asked to leave the plaza.
“I shared the wishes of the community with him and indicated it is time to sever the lease and acquire a tenant that would be a much better fit for the community. He didn’t disagree,” said Brockington. “We agreed to meet later this week to discuss next steps.”
Brockington would not disclose the identity of the landlord, who planned to meet with the restaurant’s owner immediately and report back to the councillor.
Brockington said the landlord was troubled by the homicide and had been unaware of police and bylaw efforts at the address.
Bordeleau, who said police have exhausted their avenues — once even using the tactical unit to breach the door when the business wouldn’t allow fire officials in to inspect the premises — denied that staffing was an issue, but Deputy Chief Ed Keeley said staffing pressures have made it difficult to address a lot of the issues police want to see fixed, especially at Suya.
“It’s about trying to respond as best we can with the staffing challenges that we have,” Keeley said.
The Suya Spot is supposed to be a restaurant serving African barbecue, but has gained a reputation for being more of an after-hours nightclub. Parties at the basement eatery often rage until the sun comes up, and people living around the business say it isn’t uncommon to see large crowds of people milling about the parking lot early in the morning.
Police have admitted to community activists that the restaurant has been a big problem. In a series of emails obtained by the Citizen, Ottawa police Const. Joe Defranco admits “hundreds of hours have been dedicated by the Ottawa Police Service to the issues surrounding this establishment.”
Police responded to reports of multiple shots being fired in the parking lot of The Suya Spot around 6 a.m. on Sunday. When they arrived, police found no victims of a shooting, but a subsequent call from the nearby Royal Ottawa Hospital reported a man in critical condition had been dropped off at the mental health institution.
Doctors attempted to help the man until paramedics could arrive in an attempt to rush him to the Ottawa Civic Hospital for treatment. The Royal Ottawa Hospital is not equipped to deal with trauma victims.
The victim was pronounced dead at the Civic.