Man in custody after east-end shooting shocks neighbourhood
The gunshots that woke Father James Fiori early Wednesday were quick: bang, bang, bang.
Kevin Smith called 911 after hearing what he at first thought were fireworks but then, looking off his Rosemere Avenue balcony, he saw a man in a white T-shirt limping down the street.
Someone in an SUV told him to “get in the car, get in the car.” The man got in and the SUV sped away.
Shortly after 1 a.m., police found a trail of blood on the pavement after responding to calls from residents who reported hearing several gunshots near the intersection of Rosemere and Springhurst avenues in Old Ottawa East.
A 27-year-old man was taken to hospital, though his injuries were not considered life-threatening. Police arrested a 23-year-old man but by Wednesday night had not released his or the victim’s name.
The shooting appears to have begun on Springhurst, where two bullet holes pierced a backyard fence. Half-a-dozen police were using metal detectors to comb through the grass in front of a home for retired Catholic priests.
The windshield of a car belonging to one of the priests was shattered by a bullet.
Neighbours were concerned about the graphic scene left behind.
On Rosemere, Jeff Sutton was watching city workers power wash the street, where an absorbent material that looks much like cat litter was poured over the 20-metre-long trail of blood. The smell of bleach competed with the fragrance of blooming peonies in a garden in front of the biggest pool of blood.
One mother on the street tweeted her kudos that the cleanup happened before morning. The scene is around the corner from an elementary school and across Main Street from a Catholic high school.
“From all the parents,” she said. “We thank you.”
More than a dozen kids live on the block where neighbours all know each other’s names, Sutton said, and the scene was “pretty graphic.”
The block had been ringed with police tape early Wednesday as officers looked through garbage bins and front gardens for evidence, he said.
“You feel sorry for the person who got shot. You’re happy it’s not one of your neighbours,” Sutton said.
“There are bullets in a car and bullets in a fence — we’re lucky it’s not anything else.”
No charges had been laid as of Wednesday evening.