OTTAWA – The co-owner of a tanning salon and another man are dead after an apparent double homicide Wednesday night following a shooting in the Gloucester Centre mall.
One of the victims is Graham Thomas, co-owner of the Caribbean Exposure tanning salon.
Thomas was arrested in 2000 and later sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his role in the region’s most prolific supply chains for cocaine and other drugs. He was a lieutenant for Richard Clarke, of Montreal, who was a broker between cocaine suppliers in Montreal and a relatively big drug-distribution network in the Ottawa area.
Two sources told the Citizen the second man was Jason Chapman. His address was not immediately known. They are the city’s eighth and ninth homicide victims of the year. Citizen sources confirmed that the victims were 32 and 35 years old. One suffered a gunshot to the head.
According to police, reports of shots fired began coming in sometime around 8:30 p.m.
Paramedics, police and firefighters rushed to the mall at 1908 Ogilvie Rd., where they found two men without vital signs.
Both were taken to The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus trauma unit, where they were pronounced dead shortly after they arrived.
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Fire department spokesman Marc Messier said a firefighter hopped into the back of one of the ambulances to help. He was so covered in blood that he had to head back to his fire station to change, Messier said.
Paramedic Supt. Darryl Wilton said a paramedic in his 30s was also sprayed with blood. He was taken to hospital to be examined for possible cross-contamination.
Access to the shopping centre, which is located at Blair and Ogilvie Roads, was restricted as police investigated.
A woman interviewed by the Citizen said her 19-month-old child and her mother were in a store across from the tanning salon where the shooting is believed to have happened. Her mother and child were kept in the store as police responded.
“They had to stop them (from leaving), which has me shaken up. My mother heard five shots.”
Ottawa police Duty Insp. Mike Maloney spoke to reporters at the scene and said there had not yet been any arrests in the shooting.
Maloney said police would like any witnesses to contact them.
Ahmed Hammoud was walking into the mall’s parking lot when he heard gunshots.
“It’s pretty crazy. This is the first time I’ve seen so many police cars at the same time. I see more than four cars at the same time and it’s serious.”
People who were inside the mall at the time of the shooting were visibly shaken. A woman sat near the crime scene as she called for a ride, tears streaming down her face.
Trever Proulx, the assistant manager at the Mongolian Village Grill, said police ordered the mall and all its outlets to close following the shooting.
“They came around and said to shut everything down,” he said.
Proulx said he closed and locked the restaurant’s doors, but customers were allowed to finish their meals.
From the parking lot Wednesday night, police were seen walking around the mall and escorting people out of the building.
Beacon Hill-Cyrville Councillor Tim Tierney was in the area at a few community meetings when he heard the news break Wednesday night, and decided to show up at the scene to wait for information.
Standing behind the police tape, Tierney called the double-shooting “heartbreaking” and uncharacteristic of the neighbourhood.
“It’s not every day you see this occurring in Ottawa.”
*With files from Zev Singer and Robert Sibley
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