Shoppers undeterred by ‘brazen’ Black Friday killing
Holiday shoppers were undeterred and largely undisturbed by an incident of gang-related violence that left one man dead after bullets flew across the South Keys Shopping Centre parking lot on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Ottawa police on Saturday identified the victim as Yonis Barkhadle, 27, of Ottawa.
Police said no arrests have been made in connection with his killing.
Investigators with the major crime unit believe it was a targeted shooting.
Barkhadle was known to police and was suspected of ties to gang activity.
He was found with multiple gunshot wounds in a parking lot on the north side of the mall, adjacent to a CIBC bank and OC Transpo’s bustling Greenboro transit station. Barkhadle was rushed to hospital, but died there from his injuries.
It was the city’s 17th homicide of the year.
The mall, which features large outlet stores including Walmart and Winners, was packed with shoppers when the shooting happened at about 6:30 p.m. Friday. It is not known how many shots were fired.
“It was a busy day and time at the mall, so it’s of obvious concern to us,” Sgt. Chris O’Brien said. “Any time there’s gunfire it’s concerning, but it’s especially concerning when it’s in a crowded commercial district like that on a busy shopping day.
“Obviously that’s a dangerous situation when guns are being discharged in a crowded location like that, but we don’t think there’s a heightened risk to the general public other than the fact that people who engage in this brazen behaviour in a public place and the inherent danger that puts people in.”
Police said the investigation was in its early stages and had no public update Saturday on the search for a suspect.
“We don’t believe this was a random person on the loose,” O’Brien said. “Anybody who would engage in this behaviour and is armed is (a concern), but this was not someone who ran up and shot a stranger for no reason.”
He said it was “standard practice” in homicide investigations to comb through surveillance footage taken from businesses in the vicinity.
The crime scene is also adjacent to a large OC Transpo Park & Ride lot and a busy transit stop.
Several people took to social media Friday night to post images from inside the Greenboro station, which some witnesses reported was under police lockdown, though buses and trains appeared to be operating.
Police descended on the scene after the shooting was reported and quickly cordoned off a section of the mall parking lot between the bank and a Mucho Burrito restaurant.
Shops remained open, however, and shoppers were still busy Friday evening, many taking little notice of the commotion at the mall’s north end.
Staff in stores near the scene said they saw nothing of the shooting. All of the windows on those shops face east toward Bank Street, and it appeared the shooting was just around the corner on the north side and out of sight from the storefronts.
One storekeeper said he saw police scouring the roadway and a snowbank with flashlights on Friday night, adding it looked as if they were searching for shell casings or other evidence.
By Saturday morning, there was little sign of the previous evening ’s crime scene and shoppers were either unaware of the shooting or indifferent.
“It doesn’t surprise me, to be honest,” said Austin Harding, 23, as he flipped through his smartphone to show pictures he snapped of a recent unrelated police takedown outside his apartment at the nearby intersection of Bank Street and Heron Road.
The Carleton University student said the area around South Keys had long been known for gang activity.
“We’re from Toronto, (where) you think Ottawa gangs are not really a thing, but they are,” Harding said.
He said news of the shooting, however, did nothing to dissuade him from his shopping plans.
The South Keys area has had its share of recent violence.
In May, one man was killed and a woman was sent to hospital in a shooting on Patola Private, leading to a Canada-wide arrest warrant for the suspected killer.
In November 2014, Carleton student Tausif Chowdury was found beaten and stabbed to death behind the shopping centre after an apparent drug deal gone wrong.
Barkhadle also had a history with police.
He was one of eight men arrested on Baycrest Drive in Heron Gate in connection with a home takeover where police found drugs, hand guns and ammunition.
Barkhadle and his older brother, Ismail Barkhadle, were among those charged with various offences, including drug possession, possession for the purpose of trafficking and forcible confinement.
Police on Saturday said investigators had already interviewed “a number of people” as potential witnesses in connection with Barkhadle’s killing.
“We know it was a very busy time, around 6:30 p.m. on probably the busiest shopping day of the year, so we would ask anyone that was there and saw anything to contact the major crime unit,” O’Brien said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the major crime unit at 613-236-1222 ext. 5493.