POLICE HAD no suspects, no weapon and no motive last night after two 20-year-old men were killed in a hail of bullets inside a Somerset St. W. karaoke bar.
The men, who are believed to be Chinese nationals, were shot multiple times just before 3 a.m. closing time at the Fullhouse Karaoke Tea Cafe at 718 Somerset St. W.
One victim was shot upwards of 10 times and was in critical condition as he was being transported by ambulance to hospital. He still had a pulse during the ride to the Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus and was alive for a short while in the emergency room where he succumbed to his injuries.
The second man died instantly, after being shot in the head.
Police wouldn't comment yesterday on speculation that the shooting was gang-related.
They refused to identify the men until their families had been notified, it's believed with the help of the Chinese Embassy.
LANGUAGE BARRIER
While there were many people packed into the popular tea house at the time of the shooting, investigators were having difficulty finding anyone willing to talk -- and those who would talk were difficult to understand because of the language barrier.
The victims were in Canada legally and were believed to be post-secondary students in the country on student visas.
Police believe that they were friends and were hanging out at the tea house as part of a larger group when an altercation arose between them and a second group of people.
As the situation escalated, a single gunman fired a handgun at the victims before fleeing.
Jamie Bauer, 33, was walking along Somerset St. when he heard screaming and saw men running out of the bar.
"I saw a dozen guys running from the front doors across the road, down the street," he said. "I heard a lot of screaming."
One man ran west along Somerset while others ran south along Arthur St. Three men jumped into a black sedan with tinted windows while another escaped in a pickup truck, he said.
Detectives were on the scene yesterday morning and forensic identification officers worked into the afternoon as cruisers sat watch on all sides of the business.
It was afternoon before two men in black suits removed the second victim's body, the outline of his arms crossed over his chest visible under the shroud of a body bag.
CUSTOMERS IN FIGHT
A while later, accountant Sam Ip talked to police inside the tea house but wouldn't say whether he worked for the business owners.
"The fighting was among customers," Ip said. "The owners had no control over it. They tried to break up the fight."
Staff Sgt. Monique Ackland said the 20-year-old men were shot "numerous" times and that police are searching for a firearm and interviewing all the witnesses.
She said forensic identification officers would be looking at all evidence around the scene, including two parked cars -- a silver Mercedes Kompressor and a bright blue Ford Mustang --that sat across the street from the crime scene.
People in the neighbourhood speculated the cars, which were often parked in front of the Fullhouse, belonged to the two dead men.
Both had Quebec licence plates and decals of the Chinese flag and 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
megan.gillis@ott.sunpub.com
