After fatal shooting, councillor calls for Carlington restaurant's eviction

The councillorwho represents the neighbourhood where a man was shot to death Sunday said the community is fed up with the crime happening at a Carlingtonrestaurant and wants it gone.

Riley Brockington told CBC News hemet Monday morning with the landlord for The Suya Spot a restaurant in a strip mall near where 26-year-old Abdi Jama was shotand asked about having the restaurateursevicted.

• 26-year-old Abdi Jama dead after being shot multiple times in Carlington
• MAP: All of Ottawa's 2016 homicides

"I made it very clear to the landlord that I would like to see this tenant removed,that if he can terminate his lease, that is what the community is looking forward [to]," saidBrockington.

"We no longer have the welcome mat open and ready for this tenant. There have been too many problems in the community, and it's time for them to go, plain and simple."

The landlord told Brockington he would meet with the tenant this week to have a frank discussion, Brockington said.

Known gang member

Around 6 a.m. Sunday, emergency crews responded to reports of multiple shots fired behind the strip mall at Shillington Avenue and Merivale Road in the city's Carlington neighbourhood.

Minutes later police were called to the RoyalOttawa Mental Health Centre, where a man was suffering from gunshot wounds.

Police said hewas transferred to The Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus one kilometre away there is no emergency department at the Royal where he later died.

The death of Jama, a known gang member,was Ottawa's 13th homicide of 2016, and cameoneday after40-year-old Jacob Thompsonwas shot and killed on Elmira Drive in the city's west end.

It's also the second homicide in Carlingtonthis year: in May, 56-year-old Lonnie Leafloor was found dead in a community housing building on Lepage Avenue, only a few blocks away from the site of Sunday'skilling.

Brockington said The Suya Spot a Nigerian-style barbecue jointwith one location in Ottawa and two more in Toronto has been the scene of everything from theft and vandalism to violence and public sex since it arrived in the neighbourhood in 2013.

You don't want bystanders or homeowners or others in the area ... to be hurt.- Coun. Riley Brockington

The restaurant has alsobeen charged with selling liquor without a license and committing fire code violations, he said.

According to its voicemail, The Suya Spot is closed on Mondays. No one from the restaurant has responded to the CBC'srequest for comments.

Brockington said his "understanding" was that the people involved in Sunday's shooting may have been inside the restaurant, and thatthe victim was shot when hecame outside.

"A lot of the incidents in the neighbourhood happen outside the establishment and spill into the streets, which is a greater concern," said Brockington. "Because you don't want bystanders or homeowners or others in the area ... to be hurt by those activities."

The restaurant's current lease is for five years, Brockington added.

'How many chances do you get?'

Calls to police reportingincidents atthe restaurant have increased over the past few years, and have included thefts, assaults, shootingsand a stabbing earlier this year,said acting Staff Sgt. Anthony Skinnerof the Ottawa Police Service.

Cameron Ketchum, president of the Carlington Community Association, agreed with Brockingtonthat it's time forthe restaurant to move on.

Ketchum said the association met with both the restaurant ownersand their landlords about a year and a half ago. Whilethe owners indicated at that meeting that they wanted to be "more connected" with the neighbourhood, Ketchum said nothing ever materialized.

"How many chances do you get, really? Yeah, I think it's probably time. It's certainly, from a community safety perspective, the most appropriate course of action," Ketchum said.

View a map of the city's homicides here.