Friends, family 'destroyed' in wake of triple shooting in Ottawa's ByWard Market

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Friends and family of two victims shot in the ByWard Market this weekend are trying to make sense of the outburst of violence that ended in a shootout between the suspected gunman and a police officer.

Homicide detectives and the province’s civilian police watchdog are piecing together the events that led to the shooting of Bun Sim, the death of his friend, Terrence Phillips, as well as the death of the man believed to have shot them.

Messages of condolences poured in through social media for Phillips, 43, who was shot and killed just after 2 a.m. Saturday. Sim, his close friend, was also shot by the same suspect. Sim is expected to recover from his injuries.

The suspect was later killed in the shootout with police. He has not been named publicly.

According to one witness, who did not want to be identified, the gunfire was sparked by an argument inside a Clarence Street bar, which escalated and spilled out onto the street at closing time.

Bun Sim was shot along the west side of Dalhousie Street, outside a laundromat.

A group of people who witnessed the attack began chasing the fleeing suspect.

A tactical officer driving in the area at the time attempted to arrest the suspect at gunpoint when the suspect fled. The suspect then shot Phillips, a close friend of Sim’s, killing him.

On Sunday, friend Wayne Lecompte posted a photo of himself posing with both Sim and Phillips, calling them his “brothers,” writing that he has been “so hurt and destroyed” by Phillips’ death.

Others posted messages on Sim’s Facebook page, wishing him a speedy recovery, and expressing condolences over the loss of his friend.

“Rest in power,” Pierre Destin-Schepens wrote.

Related

  • Fleeing homicide suspect killed by officer in ByWard Market gunfight

The officer chased the suspect into a parking garage on Murray Street, where the two exchanged gunfire. Several shots were fired, and the suspect was killed in the confrontation. The officer was not injured in the gunfight. The officer was alone at the time of the shooting, but was later joined by patrol units responding to the parking garage.

The province’s Special Investigations Unit, which investigates all incidents in which police are involved in civilian injuries, deaths or sexual assaults, is leading the investigation into the shooting of Phillips, which occurred shortly after the officer attempted to arrest the suspect.

The SIU is also investigating the shooting of the suspect, and will determine whether the use of lethal force was justified.

terrence-phillips-43-died-in-a-shooting-in-the-byward-mark.jpeg

Terrence Phillips, 43, died in a shooting in the ByWard Market early Saturday morning on June 3, 2017. (Photo from Facebook)


The police watchdog has assigned 10 investigators to the case. One Ottawa police officer is designated the subject of the investigation, while two other officers are listed as witnesses. The SIU has not released the names of the officers involved.

SIU investigators scoured area businesses for surveillance footage, and have made a public plea for any eyewitnesses to come forward with information.

Several people told the Citizen they heard a shot, then saw Phillips collapse on the street clutching his abdomen, while his friends yelled for police and paramedics to “Hurry up!”

Lee Demarbre was settling up at at a pub directly across from the Murray Street entrance to the parking garage, when he saw the victim in obvious trauma and rushed outside to help. As dozens of police descended on the scene, Demarbre and others were ordered back inside. By that time, Demarbre told the Citizen, the bar had filled with the smell of gunsmoke from the crime scene across the street.

“It was so surreal, it was all you could smell,” said another witness, Sophie, who did not want her surname published.

“I’ve worked in the Market for nine years, and sure there are stabbings, some sketchy crackheads, but it was never shootings like this with bullets flying. I really used to feel safe, or as safe as you can.”

bun-sim-left-and-terrence-phillips-in-a-photo-from-faceboo.jpeg

Bun Sim, left, and Terrence Phillips in a photo from Facebook. Sim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and Phillips died in two related early morning shootings in the ByWard Market on Saturday, June 3, 2017.


Ottawa Police Association president Matt Skof said the police union is offering support to the involved officer, but would give no information about him.

Skof said that “policing is a dangerous profession” and Ottawa officers are increasingly aware of that reality in the confines of the ByWard Market, where police staffing levels have been an issue given the influx of patrons in the area, especially after bars close.

The area along Dalhousie Street between Murray and Clarence remained a crime scene for much of the day Saturday, and shopkeepers and restaurateurs who arrived to find their workplace behind a maze of police tape were told to go home.

The parking garage at 141 Clarence Street was finally released as a crime scene Sunday, and those who had vehicles stranded inside were told to retrieve them.

Vincent Stoop, co-owner of The French Baker, said his delivery truck was inside the garage at the time of the shootings. He heard the shots and stepped outside to see a group of six to eight people running away, while others near the parking garage yelled for help.

ByWard Market shops and restaurants got back to business Sunday, though many were left unnerved by the gunplay.

GALLERY:
Overnight shooting in ByWard Market


  • Reader submitted photo of the crime scene in the ByWard market. June 3, 2017. /-


  • A photo provided by a witness of one of the apparent victims outside a parking garage on Murray Street in an early Saturday morning shooting in the ByWard Market. The photo was taken from restaurant Chez Lucien. (Photo by Lee Demarbre) /-


  • A photo provided by a witness outside a parking garage on Murray Street in an early Saturday morning shooting in the ByWard Market. The photo was taken from restaurant Chez Lucien. June 3, 2017. (Photo by Lee Demarbre) /-


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. A stray bullet lay in a nearby parking lot. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two fatalities in Ottawa's downtown Saturday June 3, 2017. An Ottawa Police officer stands in front of a parking garage on Murray street guarding the scene. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two fatalities in Ottawa's downtown Saturday June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ottawa Police major crime detective Chris Benson talks to two officers on Dalhousie Saturday. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two fatalities in Ottawa's downtown Saturday June 3, 2017. An Ottawa Police officer stands on Dalhousie between Murray and Clarence. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • A photo provided by a witness outside a parking garage on Murray Street in an early Saturday morning shooting in the ByWard Market. The photo was taken from restaurant Chez Lucien. June 3, 2016. (Photo by Lee Demarbre) /-




  • Police investigate a shooting in the ByWard Market. June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia /-


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two fatalities in Ottawa's downtown Saturday June 3, 2017. An Ottawa Police officer on Dalhousie between Murray and Clarence. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two fatalities in Ottawa's downtown Saturday June 3, 2017. An Ottawa Police officer in front of a parking garage on Murray street guarding the scene. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Jason Gennaro, Special Investigations Unit Communications, addresses the media after a shooting incident in the ByWard Market. June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia /-


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two fatalities in Ottawa's downtown Saturday June 3, 2017. Ottawa Police officers on Dalhousie between Murray and Clarence. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Extra police tape was added to mark off a parking lot where a stray bullet was found. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ottawa Police major crime detective Chris Benson on Dalhousie Saturday. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia


  • Ottawa Police and the SIU are investigating two shooting deaths in downtown Ottawa Saturday June 3, 2017. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia



There were signs of violence at three distinct crime scenes across the bustling block Saturday, where bloodstains and discarded shoes and clothing were still lying where they fell on Murray Street, and blue crime scene markers dotted the sidewalk along Dalhousie Street behind a maze of police tape.

Several people expressed fears over an apparent escalation in gun violence in the area.

Renee Levesque, who operates a boutique mere steps from the crime scene, said business remained slow Sunday. She relocated her shop from a location on Sussex Drive about 18 months ago, and said “the vibe” is completely different.

“Last winter we had 13 break-ins just in one stretch of (Dalhousie Street),” she said. “Every day when I show up to work, I’m worried I’m going to find the windows smashed in. It’s much rougher down here than it used to be.”

The shooting touched a raw nerve for some nearby business owners, with fresh memories of another outburst in October, when Omar (Esco) Rashid-Gader was fatally shot in a suspected gang-related homicide inside the Sentral nightclub, on the same block of Dalhousie as the new shootings.

Major crime detectives, who are investigating Sim’s shooting, have not commented on any apparent motive.

The ByWard Market BIA, which represents and advocates for businesses in the neighbourhood, did not respond to several requests for comment over the weekend.

In a statement from his press secretary, Mayor Jim Watson said he was unable to offer detailed comments on the case because of the investigation, but “wishes to remind residents that we continue to live in one of the safest cities in North America.

“The ByWard Market continues to have increased police patrols during both the daytime and evening, and Mayor Watson appreciates the excellent work our police officers do on a daily basis.”

Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury called it a “tragic” incident.

“While there is no immediate threat to the public, I understand the Special Investigations Unit continues to investigate the scene. We await more detailed information to come to light,” Fleury said in a statement.

The fatal shootings are the city’s fourth and fifth homicides of 2017.

syogaretnam@postmedia.com

ahelmer@postmedia.com

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