Ottawa police chief addresses major spike in city shootings and homicides

Ottawa's police chief says five shootings which left four people dead since Friday are “not the result of a simple set of circumstances” which means it can't just be solved by one simple solution.

Since May 28, there has been one shooting in Cyrville-Meadowbrook, one on Woodroffe Avenue and three in the Alta Vista area.

“This is the result of a number of societal failures which ultimately lead to violence,” says Chief Peter Sloly, Ottawa Police Service (OPS). 

The chief says most of the crimes involving gun violence in Ottawa this year have been gang-related and gang-related crime is getting more complicated to track.

“Street Gangs that used to be based on either demographic or geographic elements have now found themselves with very loose affiliations and the ability to move across the city across the region and across the province and in some cases internationally,” Sloly says. “All of theses things have increased the complexity of the investigations and the complexity of our ability to use traditional policing methods to suppress crimes.”

As of May 19, there had already been 29 shootings in the city.

In the coming days and weeks, the chief says officers will be reaching out to community groups and leaders, as well city officials, to establish a plan to improve social determinants of health, to address causes of crime, the need to use guns and improve community safety. 

Sloly says the OPS has great officers and service members who are very innovative, but the police can only accomplish so much on their own.