One person is dead and another was wounded in a downtown shooting Sunday night. A witness reported hearing multiple shots, before someone was whisked away in an SUV.
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The Ottawa Police Service says that 18-year-old Quentin Dorsainvil of Ottawa is the victim in Sunday’s night shooting in Centretown.
A second victim also suffered non-life-threatening injuries and has been released from hospital.
Police also confirmed that one person is in custody for firearm offences. Police are investigating their potential involvement in the homicide, but no charges had been laid as of early Monday afternoon.
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The shooting occurred near the intersection of Percy Street and Nepean Street at approximately 9:45 p.m. There was a heavy police presence at the scene Monday morning, with police tape surrounding the intersection.
Paramedics and forensics teams were also on site and a tow truck drove away with a black Toyota sedan just after 11 a.m.
Several neighbours told the Ottawa Citizen they heard shots Sunday night.
One, who would only go by his first name Devon, lives on the top floor of a nearby apartment building. He rushed to the window when he heard the shots, which he said took place on the corner of Nepean and Percy.
“I was watching TV, and then I heard a couple of shots…five would be my guess,” he said.
“And then, I was kind of sitting there for a second, ‘What the heck just happened?’ ” he said. “I came out onto the balcony and I saw people running from the corner here (at Nepean and Percy), and across to the other side of the building. That’s the pool building.
“They ran. There’s a pathway between the apartment building and a smaller building and they ran along there. And then in front of that other building, they had an argument in front of the bushes. Two guys. They were arguing about something. I don’t know what. And then everyone just scattered.”
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He said all of that happened “immediately” after the shooting.
“I saw some guy sitting in front of the bush where the people had the argument. … And that’s where they loaded the guy into (an) SUV. There’s a pile of blood there. They went down Percy to Somerset into Chinatown. That’s pretty much all I saw. And then people screaming obviously. And then people running and the cops showing up and blocking off the area.”
The witness says that the police arrived quickly.
“It’s weird,” he said. “I haven’t lived here that long, but still, it’s just like…someone got shot right there.”
He says there is typically noise in the neighbourhood at night, but he has never before experienced anything like what happened late Sunday. “We’re in Centretown, so you get some people walking around at night, for sure, but I’ve never seen violence or anything,” he said.
Concert promoter Brandon Bird said the shooting had nothing to do with the rap concert that took place at the nearby Bronson Centre on Sunday.
Bird owns the Diamond Mine Agency, the Ottawa-based company that promoted the all-ages, hip-hop concert with 21-year-old Memphis rapper NLE Choppa.
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“The people involved weren’t at the concert,” Bird said. “It had nothing to do with us. The police locked it down for public safety while they were trying to figure out what happened.”
The lockdown prevented concertgoers from leaving the venue for about 10 or 15 minutes until police were sure the area was safe.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa Police Service Homicide Unit at 613-236-1222 ext. 5493.
Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-222-8477 or at crimestoppers.ca.
With files from Lynn Saxberg
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