22-year-old charged with first-degree murder in Nepean shooting

Ottawa police arrested a 22-year-old man after a morning shooting in Nepean last weekend.

Officials said they arrested Omar Yare and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder. The accused is set to appear in court this morning.

The incident happened in the 300 block of Craig Henry Drive, a neighborhood in Nepean just off Woodroffe Avenue. Police were called at 9:30 a.m. on April 6 and found Mahad Elmi of Ottawa with gunshot wounds.

A second person, a 21-year-old male, was taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

This comes after a string of murders in the nation’s capital. Days before this incident, two women were killed in what police are calling femicides.

Ottawa’s 2025 homicide cases (to date)

January

The force’s first homicide of the year happened on Jan. 10. Officers were called to Pondhollow Way in Nepean around 5:15 p.m., where they located a 58-year-old man.

Days later, officials charged Mia Tejada, 28, and Omar Assaad, 26, both from Ottawa, with first-degree murder. 

February

An inmate at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre has been charged with murder following an incident at the jail.

Ottawa police say on Feb. 6, a Marc Lebrun-Fortin assaulted Amr Zohair, 40, of Ottawa at the detention centre.

Officials did not say what led to the violent interaction. Lebrun-Fortin was charged with first-degree murder after initially being charged with aggravated assault.

On Feb. 15 police were called to St. Laurent Boulevard where they found Omar Jonathan Grant, 25, suffering from stab wounds. He later succumbed to his injuries.

Officers charges Jacob Blanchard, 25, with second-degree murder and assault with a weapon. They later charged Samuel Laurin-Gauvreau, 19, who faced the same charges.

A second-degree murder charged was laid to a woman after a stabbing in the Overbrook community on Feb. 19. Police identified the victim as Robert Vides, 36, of Ottawa.

Officers charged Judith Brennan, 45. The two were known to each other.

March

Ottawa Police Service and emergency responders were called to the Longfields Drive area around 8:10 p.m. They found Kole Warren Watanabe, 27, with life-threatening injuries, who was pronounced dead shortly after.

Munyaradzi Gonouya, 29, is charged with second-degree murder.

On March 29, police were called to Primrose Avenue East near Arthur Street and found a 63-year-old man with serious injuries. The victim is Paul Scott Landymore, of Ottawa.

No arrests have been made.

April – First and second femicides

Officers responded to Henry Street at 4:38 p.m. on April 1. They stated at the time that one person was in custody.

A day later, police identified the victim as Renee Descary, 51, of Ottawa, saying this was the first femicide of the year.

“A femicide is generally defined as ‘the killing of women and girls because of their gender,'” police said.

Oliver Denia, 24, of Ottawa, was charged with second-degree murder.

Last Friday just before 6:00 a.m. on Provender Avenue in the community of Rothwell Heights just east of Vanier, officers found Trevor Howard Needham, 42, of Ottawa dead. A woman was also found at the scene suffering non-life-threatening injuries.

Jeremy Joseph Young, 38, of Ottawa, has been charged with second-degree murder as well as attempted murder.

Officials responded to a home on Bentbrook Crescent in Barrhaven on Saturday evening. Inside the home, police found 61-year-old Brenda Rus dead.

Robert Rus, 61, has been charged in the city’s second femicide this year, according to Ottawa police.

The accused appeared in court Sunday morning, facing charges of first-degree murder.

The death of Mahad Elmi is the city’s 10th homicide case.