A young man gunned down on Tremblay Road on Sunday morning had been missing for hours when his brother sent neighbours to the scene of the city’s third homicide of the year.
Once there, the neighbours saw 21-year-old Sharif Said’s gunmetal grey 2009 Honda Civic — complete with a miniature green Converse sneaker dangling from the rear-view mirror — with both passenger- and driver-side doors ajar. The window of the passenger side appeared to have been partially rolled down. It’s not clear if the driver’s side window had been shot out or was completely down.
The victim’s running shoes were on the road in front of his car.
His brother began to cry when a neighbour at the crime scene notified him of the match on the vehicle with tinted windows, and on the black shoes with white soles at the heart of the crime scene.
Three young men answered the door at the victim’s family home later Sunday but politely declined to speak to a Citizen reporter.
“We’re grieving right now,” said one, wearing a basketball jersey, his eyes fresh from recent tears.
Homicide investigators were at Said’s home in the Blair Court Community Housing project on Sunday afternoon. He lived on Station Boulevard with his father and seven brothers, neighbours said. As police left the townhouse, a friend of Said’s arrived at the crime scene and began crying inconsolably.
Police were called to the scene of the shooting around 6 a.m. when a witness reported the young man lying on the ground on Tremblay Road near Belfast Road.
Said was taken to The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus where he later died of his injuries.
Neighbour Matt Shillington said he was awakened by the sound of six or seven gunshots around 5:45 a.m. But given the maintenance happening on Tremblay, he figured it was the sound of construction and went back to bed.
A short time later police were notified of a second scene that was believed to be related to the homicide. Just minutes away at the intersection of Sandford Fleming and Terminal avenues, a silver Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck with Alberta licence plate had crashed into a commercial building at 380 Terminal Ave.
Police investigate a homicide on Tremblay Rd. at Belfast Rd. in Ottawa, Sunday, May 3, 2015. A man was shot around 6am this morning. A truck crashed into a building near the Ottawa postal terminal, and this second scene appears to be related to the above investigation.
The truck was towed by Sunday afternoon, leaving behind broken windows at Hannia’s Massage and Aesthetics in suite 111, and deep tire tracks in the lawn.
A woman at that scene who was waiting for the property manager to show up to assess the damage said the area, though isolated and full of parking lot space, isn’t known for drug- or gang-activity. She said she had left the building at midnight and hadn’t seen anything suspicious in the area.
Signs posted on the building, which is across the street from Canada Revenue Agency and Canada Post buildings, make clear that the property is monitored by video surveillance. That scene lies between the victim’s home and the crime scene on Tremblay Road.
Police were working on the theory that the shooting was both gang- and drug-related. Said was known to associate with gang members. A resident in the housing project in which he lived alleged the slain man was a drug dealer, calling him “big sh-t.”
“Leave the drugs out of the projects,” the man implored.
Police investigate a homicide on Tremblay Rd. at Belfast Rd. in Ottawa, Sunday, May 3, 2015. A man was shot around 6am this morning. A truck crashed into a building near the Ottawa postal terminal, and this second scene appears to be related to the above investigation.
Investigators began canvassing residents along Tremblay Road in the early afternoon while both scenes were being processed by forensic investigators.
By Sunday night, police had yet to make any arrests.
It was the city’s second gang-related shooting this year and second drug-related killing in less than a month.
Police investigate a homicide on Tremblay Rd. at Belfast Rd. in Ottawa, Sunday, May 3, 2015. A man was shot around 6am this morning. A truck crashed into a building near the Ottawa postal terminal, and this second scene appears to be related to the above investigation.
Police investigate a homicide on Tremblay Rd. at Belfast Rd. in Ottawa, Sunday, May 3, 2015. A man was shot around 6am this morning. A truck crashed into a building near the Ottawa postal terminal, and this second scene appears to be related to the above investigation.
A friend of the murder victim is directed into back of a police cruiser at homicide scene on Tremblay Rd. at Belfast Rd. in Ottawa, Sunday, May 3, 2015. A man was shot around 6am this morning. A truck crashed into a building near the Ottawa postal terminal, and this second scene appears to be related to the above investigation.
Police officer speaks to a friend of the murder victim near homicide scene on Tremblay Rd. at Belfast Rd. in Ottawa, Sunday, May 3, 2015. A man was shot around 6am this morning.
Police officers speak to friends of the murder victim near homicide scene on Tremblay Rd. at Belfast Rd. in Ottawa, Sunday, May 3, 2015. A man was shot around 6am this morning.
Friends of the murder victim near homicide scene on Tremblay Rd. at Belfast Rd. in Ottawa, Sunday, May 3, 2015. A man was shot around 6am this morning.
Police forensics officer swabs blood from roadway during homicide investigation on Tremblay Rd. at Belfast Rd. in Ottawa, Sunday, May 3, 2015. A man was shot around 6am this morning.
Known gang member Yusuf Ibrahim, 27, was gunned down on the morning of Feb. 6. Police continue that investigation.
Connor Stevenson, 18, was stabbed in the course of a stairwell drug deal on April 14. David Dubois, 19, stands charged with second-degree murder.
Police ask that anyone with information about Said, the shooting itself or what may have happened in the time leading to it contact them at 613-236-1222 ext. 5493.
Police investigate a homicide on Tremblay Road, May 3, 2015.
Police investigate a second scene on Sandford Fleming Avenue involving a pickup truck, May 3, 2015.
Police investigate the city’s third homicide of the year on Tremblay Road.
A pickup truck crashed into a building staircase on Terminal Avenue near Sanford Fleming Avenue early Sunday morning.
Police investigate along Tremblay Road near Industrial Avenue. This is the third homicide investigation of 2015.
