Police see record number of shootings in Ottawa in 2017

After a young man took himself to hospital with a gunshot wound last weekend Ottawa recorded its 69th shooting, breaking a record in a city that has seen violent crime on the rise in recent years.

For a second consecutive year, the city has broken its annual shooting record after logging 68 shootings in 2016, police Chief Charles Bordeleau confirmed Monday at the Ottawa Police Services Board meeting.

The police service logs shootings whether or not a person was shot. In some cases, bullet holes in buildings or shell casings on the ground are found but a victim is never identified.

The chief told reporters at the meeting the increase in gun violence is a concern but stressed that the police service can't simply "arrest our way out of the street violence in our city."

"That's why the work we do with our community partners is so important to help eliminate these threats from our streets," Bordeleau said.

He said getting guns off the street is an example of "solid police work," pointing to the recent six-month investigation called Project Sabotage which resulted in the seizure of 24 firearms and the arrest of 13 people. The investigation into street-level gun trafficking was the largest seizure of guns in years.

Last year the city also nearly broke another record for the most homicides in one year — 24. So far this year, there have been 14 homicides, half of which were fatal shootings. 

The latest case of gun violence in the city was played out in an unusual location — Barrhaven. A 25-year-old man suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound after a shooting in broad daylight Sunday afternoon. 

Below is a breakdown of the number of shootings recorded in Ottawa in the last five years. 

• View the infographic here.