Ottawa Police investigating suspicious death in Vanier

CTV Ottawa: Suspicious death CTV's Joanne Schnurr reports on the suspicious death in Vanier, tenants inside told by police not to leave the building.

Ottawa Police Major Crime investigators were at a building in Vanier after a body was found inside an apartment. Police say the death is suspicious but aren't releasing any other details just yet.

Paramedics and police responded to the apartment building at 347 Lacasse Avenue around 12:30 Thursday afternoon after a 9-1-1 call about a body.

"This call was generated by a complainant in the area who called paramedics upon seeing something,” says Acting Inspector Mark Patterson with the Ottawa Police, “When we came here, we deemed this suspicious.”

Police secured the building, asking tenants inside not to leave. Melissa Raison lives in the building next door and had just come home from work when this all unfolded. She's told by a neighbor that it was a worker who discovered the body.

"We had to do a heating check of all the buildings,” says Raison, out for a walk with her dog, “and that's how they found him. They went in to see if heat was going on and they found him tied up in there. That's what I heard.  I can't say that's for sure.”

Police haven't released the identity or age of the victim, nor will they comment on whether the victim was tied up.  They are canvassing witnesses for information.

It is a disturbing discovery for residents in the area who see far too much violence there.

“It's not the first body I’ve heard about on this street,” says one man as he watches from across the street.

Alima Baruani moved to Lacasse Avenue a month ago, having come recently from Burundi, Africa. She wonders about her family's safety here.

“C’est inquietant,” says the young pregnant woman in French, to think that someone was found dead inside there.

Police are calling this a suspicious death, but Jessi Aitken says if it is a murder, he wants out of the neighborhood.

"If you hear someone got beat up, well, that happens when you get drunk or whatever, but when you hear (it might be) a murder, you kinda want to get out of the area.”

Ottawa Police say there is nothing about the death of this person to cause a sense of urgency in the area.

If it is a homicide, it would be the city's fifth this year.