Teen, 15, charged with murder after man shot to death in Vanier
Kimberley Molina | CBC News | Posted: December 23, 2017 3:47 PM | Last Updated: December 23, 2017
Keith Fitzsimmons, 50, found dead of a gunshot wound on Fréchette Street
A 15-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder after a man was fatally shot in Vanier early Saturday morning.
Ottawa police were called to a home on Fréchette Street shortly after 3 a.m. and found the victim outside the home, suffering from a single gunshot wound and in cardiac arrest.
Officers performed CPR and rushed the man to the trauma centre, where he later died.
He has been identified as 50-year-old Keith Fitzsimmons.
2nd man also arrested
The 15-year-old boy charged with murder cannot be named under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
A 21-year-old man was also arrested and has been charged with three firearms-related offences, forcible confinement, and uttering threats, police said.
The two males were arrested on nearby Jolliet Avenue, said Staff Sgt. Ken Bryden with the Ottawa Police Service's major crimes section.
On Saturday morning, police had a home at 255 Fréchette St. cordoned off. A red bike was visible outside. They were also guarding a home around the corner on Jolliet Avenue.
Bryden said he believed Fitzsimmons was shot outside the Fréchette Street house.
Not gang-related
Another officer with the major crimes unit, Sgt. Christopher O'Brien, said that investigators did not believe Fitzsimmons and the two males knew each other.
He also said police knew the likely motive for the shooting.
"Anytime there's this type of violence, it's shocking to us and to the community, obviously," said O'Brien.
Police also said Fitzsimmons did not live at the Fréchette Street home, and that his death was not gang-related..
'Surprising and devastating'
Neighbours said the area is normally peaceful, and they're shocked someone was shot while residents were asleep.
"You get the occasional hiff and huffs, but [it's] always very quiet. And this is very surprising and devastating at the same time," said Patricia Turcotte.
Turcotte said she's lived in the neighbourhood for 11 years, including five spent right across the street from where the man was shot.
She said her boyfriend got up to go to work at 3:30 a.m. but was stopped by police.
"They wouldn't let him out so we didn't know what was going on," Turcotte said. "I have a 16-year-old, and this is very scary."
Tom Rowd lives on Jolliet Avenue and said most people in the neighbourhood know each other.
Police were running down the street with rifles in their hands. - Tom Rowd
He was surprised when he woke up to police cruisers lining the street.
"The whole street was full of police cars, and police were running down the street with rifles in their hands," he said.
They were telling anyone who tried to look outside to stay in their homes, Rowd added.
'A sad situation'
Another neighbour, Liette Berniquez, said she'd never witnessed anything like Saturday's police presence in the nearly 15 years she'd lived in the neighbourhood.
"It's horrible," Berniquez said. "It's a sad situation at [a] bad time of the year."
Both of the accused appeared in court Saturday and have been remanded in custody.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and officers are continuing to canvass the neighbourhood. They are asking anyone with information to come forward.