Attempted murder, arson charges laid in Donald Street highrise fire - Action News
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Ottawa

Attempted murder, arson charges laid in Donald Street highrise fire

An Ottawa man is facing nine charges, including attempted murder and arson, for afire at an Overbrook highrise last week.

8 injured, dozens more displaced by fire on May 2

Two vehicles, one of which is a police cruiser, is parked in front of a highrise.
A 42-year-old man now faces nine charges, including attempted murder and arson, in connection with a fire that broke out May 2 at this Donald Street apartment building. (Rebecca Kwan/Radio-Canada)

An Ottawa man has been charged with attempted murder and arson for afire at an Overbrook apartment building that sent eight people to hospital and displaced dozens more.

The fire broke out on the third floor of the Donald Street toweraround 6 a.m. on May 2.

Three of the eight people who ended up in hospital two children and a woman suffered life-threatening injuries, Ottawa paramedics said at the time.

In a news release Wednesday, Ottawa police said they'd laid nine charges against 42-year-old Saeed Mohamed:

  • Three counts of attempted murder.
  • Three counts of arson causing bodily harm.
  • One count of arson with disregard for human life.
  • One count of arson causing property damage.
  • One count of possession of incendiary material.

Mohamed made a brief appearance virtually in Ottawa court Wednesday.

Fire trucks in front of a highrise apartment building.
Many residents were displaced by the two-alarm fire. There was a smaller fire the following night. (Natalia Goodwin/CBC)

'We don't think that we are living in Canada'

It took crews roughly an hour to bring the fire under control and more than four hours to fully extinguish it.

Beacon Hill-CyrvilleCoun. Tim Tierney, who represents the area,said more than 250 residentssought help that day at the Overbrook Community Centre, which served as a reunification point.

A man stands in front of an apartment.
Abdul Wali, who lives in the building, expressed concerns about his family's safety after hearing the news of the charges. (Mathieu Deroy/CBC)

"If somebody's doing[it deliberately],that's not good," said tenant Abdul Walion Wednesday."This is a populated area. We are living with our kids [here]."

Waliexpressed concerns for families like hiswho live in the building and have just immigrated to Canada.

"We are worried about our family's safety, because sometimes, we don't think that we are living in Canada. Because that's what we were not expecting ... [that we would be]suffering this kind of disaster."

As of this past weekend, after a second fire in as many days one that's not believed to be suspicious56 residents remained unable to come home.

With files from Anchal Sharma