'Quite horrific': Ottawa police investigating after shootings leave 2 dead, 1 injured

The Ottawa police major crime unit is investigating the city's seventh and eighth homicides of the year after two men were found shot to death Monday, one near Elmhurst Park and another in a parked car near the Ottawa River.

A third man was also shot and wasconsidered to be in critical condition later Monday.

2 of 3 incidents linked so far

Early Monday morning, around 7:10 a.m.,a man with multiple gunshot wounds arrived attheQueenswayCarleton Hospital, according to police.

While officers were investigating that first shooting in theElmhurst Parkareabetween Alpine AvenueandTavistockRoadnot far from Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre the body of aman was discovered nearby.

According to police, the body was found around 8:45 a.m. He was lying next to a van ona residential driveway onTavistockRoadnear Elmhurst Street, andhad been shot to death.

Police believe the man'sdeath islinked to the shooting that left the other man in critical condition.

2nd dead body found in parked car

Later in the day, shortly after 12:30 p.m.,police were called to the intersection of Aylenand Wayne avenues, between Richmond Road and the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, afterresidents reported an abandoned car with its engine still running.

View a map of the two scenes here

When police arrivedthey found a dead maninside the vehicle. He had been shot andwas pronounced dead at the scene.

Insp. John McGetricktold reporters at the crime scene that the carhad been there for "quite some time."

It's unclear whether the second death in the parked vehicleis related to the two other Monday shootings.

Victims known to police

"A day like this is quite horrific,"McGetricksaid. "A terrible day for the community and a more terrible day for the families involved."

But police Chief Charles Bordeleau said there is no concern for public safety.

"We believe that these incidents were targeted," Bordeleau said at an Ottawa Police Services Board meeting Monday afternoon, adding that the victims were known to police.

No arrests have been made.

'It sounded close'

Kevin Daly, who lives in the ElmhurstPark area, said he and his wife heard "two pops" just before 7 a.m.

"We were just having our coffee. I thought it was a power line popping because it happens a lot with these power lines hitting the trees," Dalysaid in an interview from the scene.

"It was two pops. They were about a couple minutes apart. It sounded close. I didn't think anything of it, I actually thought it was the power lines being hit."

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 613-236-1222. Anonymous tips can be passed on through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).