Community meetings planned to put east-end Ottawa violence 'on front burner'
Nooredin Hassan, 20, killed on Tuesday evening
Coun. Tim Tierney left a meeting with Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau with the promise of a "leaders meeting" within a week to discuss crime in his ward following the latest homicide on Jasmine Crescent.
"The chance of a bullet flying is a concern, so we want to make sure that people know that we are looking at this and that it's on the front burner," Tierney said.
Nooredin Hassan, 20, was fatally shot while walking along Jasmine Crescent near Ogilvie Road just before 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. His death marks Ottawa's fifth homicide of 2016, and the third killing on Jasmine Crescent in less than a year.
Tierney said Thursday that he will sit down with religious leaders, school principals and coaches to discuss concerns in a closed meeting ahead of a larger community meeting with Bordeleau, to be held within a month.
The chance of a bullet flying is a concern.- Coun. Tim Tierney
"The Ottawa Police Service feels very much the same way I do: there's concern in our community," Tierney said.
Tierney said he asked Bordeleau for more "boots on the ground" in his ward, but was turned down — for now.
"It is a safe community, but we have to give that reassurance back to them that police are working hard on this file," he said. "I want to see something tangible."
Tierney said he will also discuss the possibility of video surveillance in his ward with other members of city council.
"It could be a tool in our toolbox that we could use, like other municipalities," he said.
Vigil promotes 'love over violence'
Earlier on Thursday, Tierney took part in a vigil on the same corner where Hassan was shot.
Les Woolsey, an elder at Pine Grove Bible Church located just a few blocks from the site of the shooting, led the Lord's Prayer during the vigil.
Pine Grove Church's Les Woolsey leads a small prayer vigil where Nooredin Hassan was shot dead Tuesday <a href="https://t.co/4utN2Abpv6">pic.twitter.com/4utN2Abpv6</a>
—@StuMillsCBC"We just felt that we needed to pray for the people who were affected by it, for the family of the young man who died, and for the community — for renewal of the community and for troubled people here," Woolsey said.
"If you care for people, you want to be praying for them. It's upsetting, it's emotional because you know people are hurting."
Wesley Moore, another church member, said the vigil was meant to "change the channel" on the recent violence.
"This is not about despair. This is not about violence. It's about love over violence," Moore said.