Man, 70, charged in fatal stabbing outside Ottawa’s Rideau Centre

A 70-year-old man is facing first degree murder charges for a fatal stabbing outside the Rideau Centre. CTV’s Tyler Fleming reports.

Ottawa police say a 70-year-old man has been charged in the stabbing death of a 58-year-old man outside the Rideau Centre.

Ottawa Paramedic Service superintendent of public information Marc-Antoine Deschamps told CTV News that paramedics responded to reports of a stabbing on Rideau Street shortly after 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

According to Deschamps, the man sustained life-threatening injuries and arrived at the hospital in critical condition. Police say the man died shortly after.

On Friday, police announced 70-year-old Yves Brisebois is facing a charge of first-degree murder.

According to a Feb. 25 news release from police, the victim has been identified as 58-year-old Gilles Comtois.

S. Sgt. Jeff Pilon, of the Ottawa Police Service Homicide Unit, says the individuals were “not strangers.”

“They were known to each other,” Pilon said. “We’re still working on the sequence of events that led up to it and trying to identify a motive.”

According to Pilon, Brisebois appeared before court on Friday.

The incident happened near the police Neighbourhood Operations Centre on Rideau Street.

“Police were working in the downtown core on specific duties and they were on scene very quickly, which facilitated the arrest of the accused momentarily after the incident,” Pilon says.

“The investigation is continuing at this time, especially to identify the victim and provide the next of kin information.”

Police say the victim was part of Ottawa’s vulnerable community, and Coun. Stephanie Plante says more needs to be done to help those in need.  

“We see vulnerable people in and around the Rideau Center all the time, we know they’re not getting the help they need,” Plante said.

“We know that our shelter system is oversubscribed. So, I am lobbying every single day for upper levels of government to please, please, please start housing. Start housing people with supports. Start housing people outside of downtown. We have to spread out our social services all over the city to reduce the redlining that’s happened over the last couple years.”

This is the fourth homicide of the year.

This is the second stabbing near the Rideau Centre in five days, as a man was stabbed outside the mall late Sunday evening.

Anyone with relevant information is asked to contact the police Homicide Unit at 613-236-1222 ext. 5493. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or at crimestoppers.ca.

With files from CTV’s Tyler Fleming.

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