A young mother of three living in Carlington says she's fed up with the spate of violence that has unfolded near her home this past year — and is calling on all Ottawa residents "to care" about what's happening in the neighbourhood.

There have been three homicides, as well as shootings in the west Ottawa neighbourhood since the beginning of the year, including a shooting on Friday night near an Ottawa Community Housing building on Caldwell Ave.

Melonie Kilby, 27, who lives in the same building, said she's constantly trying to shield her children from seeing others in the building use drugs and alcohol, and getting into fist fights.

Kilby only moved to the area a month ago, but said she's already planning to move because she "can't handle it here."

"The city needs to care about this area. Absolutely. And they don't, and it sucks," she said.

Kilby said there are many single mothers in the neighbourhood who want to leave, but can't afford to.

"So they're stuck here. Living with this," she said.

"My girlfriend … was walking [home] from Wal-mart … she was walking with her four month old and her four year old, and she couldn't go into the elevator because of how much blood was in there from the shooting today," said Kilby.

Grace Atanga, 57, also lives in the same building, and said she sometimes "feels nervous" in the neighbourhood.

"When you hear of shootings, you never feel safe … you're always afraid, so you panic, because you don't know when your own turn will come," said Atanga.

On Thursday evening, about 100 people packed into a local community centre for a "safety night" hosted by the area's city councillor, Riley Brockington.

Image | riley brockington ottawa city hall september 2016 councillor

Caption: Coun. Riley Brockington says crime in the Carlington area is often targeted. (Chloé Fedio/CBC)

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He said the recent violence has "elevated" the "community's anxiety", but that crime in the neighbourhood is often targeted.

"A lot of it is people who know each other. This isn't random strangers being attacked by strangers. These are people who have a debt, drug deals who have had conflict in the past," Brockington said.

Next month, members from the Ottawa Police Service and Ottawa Community Housing will be going door to door in some parts of the neighbourhood to educate residents about the importance of reporting information to the police.

"If you're a tenant and you're aware of activities going on in another unit on your floor, if you're aware of people who are continuously coming on your floor who don't live in the building, that's information that Ottawa Community Housing security need to have. And obviously, if there are illegal activities going on, the Ottawa police need that information as well," said Brockington.