Police probe 14th homicide of year

Third killing in Carlington in five months

Ottawa police were investigating the city’s 14th homicide of the year Thursday after a 55-year-old man was fatally stabbed outside a rowhouse in Carlington, the third killing in the west-side neighbourhood in five months.

Neighbours said they heard screams from across the street from their low-rise apartment on Rosenthal Avenue shortly after 6 p.m. and saw a crowd gathering around a man who was face down on the ground.

“He was covered in blood,” said Bruce Kearns, who saw the aftermath of the altercation from his third-storey window.

“I heard a lot arguments coming from that side of the street. The people that were trying to help him had blood on him as well.”

Bystanders called for an ambulance and at least one person performed CPR on the man before they arrived, witnesses said.

“They were screaming, ‘He’s not breathing. He’s not breathing. He’s got no pulse,’ ” Kearns said.

Police had yet to notify the family of the victim, whom they described as an adult male.

The Ottawa police major crime unit took over the investigation of the fourth fatal stabbing of 2016.

On Sunday, the city logged its 50th shooting of the year, a record, and there have been two more since. Ten of the shootings have been fatal.

The Rosenthal Avenue stabbing is about a 10-minute walk from the scene of a fatal shooting outside a Shillington Avenue restaurant. Twenty-six-year Abdi “Ajax” Jama died after he was shot in the parking lot of The Suya Spot restaurant. Chief Charles Bordeleau called the restaurant a “magnet of criminal activity” days before it was closed amid public pressure.

On May 2, 56-year-old Lonnie Leafloor was stabbed to death in a targeted attack in an apartment on Lepage Avenue in Carlington.

Those homicides remain unsolved.

“Especially when, you know, just down the street not too long ago (there was) a shooting. It’s not a good neighbourhood. My daughter’s a little worried here now,” said Kearns, who has lived in the area for more than a decade.

Another neighbour, who did not give her name, was worried this incident will cast a negative light on the neighbourhood that is home to mostly law-abiding citizens.

Another resident, who also did not provide his name, said his girlfriend ran downstairs and gave CPR to the victim on the ground. She did about 40 compressions, but he had no vital signs, he said.

Several police vehicles lined the street and a nearby parking lot as officers questioned residents outside. Police did not have a suspect in custody Thursday evening.