3 arrested in Ottawa teen's shooting death

Ottawa police have threeadult men in custody in connection with the shooting of 16-year-old Yazdan Ghiasvand Ghiasi, whose body was dumped from a car near Chinatown on Monday morning.

Ottawa's major crimes unitsaid police were questioning thethreemen Tuesday and that charges were pending in what they were calling a homicide, the 10th in Ottawa this year.

An autopsy conducted Tuesday revealed Ghiasi died from a gunshot wound. Ghiasi's death is not believed to be gang related, Ottawa police said.

Ghiasi's body was found covered in blood on Booth Street near Somerset Street West on Monday at 10:30 a.m. after a witness reported hearing two shots and then seeing the body dumped from a car.

Residents came to his aid and attempted CPR, but the teen was pronounced dead at hospital.

Ata Fathi, a friend of Ghiasi's family, called the teenager's death "unjustifiable" and saidthe family is struggling to understand why it happened.

"He was so friendly and so close to everybody everyone that knew him, loved him, and is going to miss him forever," Fathi said.

"I want him to be remembered as a boy that worked so hard to achieve everything that his parents and society wanted from him."

Ghiasi had begun working at his father's downtown Spark Auto Repair shop on the weekends and was a skilled athlete who practiced tae kwon do.

Students at Notre Dame High School, where Ghiasi competed in track and field and wrestling, expressed shock and sadness over their classmate's death.

Miguel Robinson said just a few days earlier, he had seen Ghiasi at a basketball game joking and laughing.

"It was just amazing and now it's a loss of that," said Robinson.

A spokesperson with the Ottawa Catholic School Board said crisis counsellors and chaplaincy support were available in the school chapel this week for students and staff.

A makeshift memorial to Ghiasi also appeared on Booth Street on Tuesday, near where the student's body was dumped.

Death shocks community

Kim Nguyen, who lives nearby, said her son David was outsidesmoking acigarette when he heard gunshots just before 10:30 a.m. Monday.

"When he finished his smoke, he just turned back to go inside [the] house," Nguyen said. "Suddenly, he heard two shots pop, pop and he turned back and saw the guy inside the car open the door very fast."

David Nguyenspent much of the day being interviewed by police.

Another person said he saw someone try to perform CPR on the teen before paramedics and police arrived.

"Oh, yeah, there was blood," said a witness who didn't want his name used. "I saw his torso. There was blood, and there was also blood around the body."

Some residents in the neighbourhood where the body was found said the area has had its problems with prostitution and drug dealing but that the discovery of the body on Monday in the middle of the morning was a shock.

"They just dumped a 16-year-old kid off; I can't understand why they'd do that," said Tracy Sutton, who lives near where the body was found.

"That is pretty shocking that it happened in broad daylight," saidanother resident,Beth Babik. "But at the same time, some of the other problems we have in the neighbourhood do happen in daylight."