Ottawa's police chief says Carlington restaurant is a hotbed of criminal gang activity

Ottawapolice Chief Charles Bordeleau says that while hewants to see the Suya Spot on Shillington Avenue closed for good, he doesn't have the power to do it.

"We don't have the authority to shut a place down. We can lay charges but we don't have the legal authority," Bordeleau said Monday after a violent weekend in which two men were fatally shot one of them behind the restaurant.

The restaurant in Ottawa's west endis a "magnet"for criminal gang activity, Bordeleau said, adding that the establishment has been selling alcohol withouta proper liquor licence. While it's facing numerouscharges for various infractions, it continues to flout bylaws, he said.

At around6 a.m. onSunday, emergency crews responded to reports of multiple shots fired behind the strip mall where the Nigerian restaurantis located.

A few minutes later police werecalled to the RoyalOttawa Mental Health Centre, where the victimhad been dropped off.Abdi Jama, 26,was latertransferred to The Ottawa Hospital'sCivic campus, where hedied.Police say he was a known gang member.

"It's not the first shooting we've had there," said Bordeleau."We've had a number of serious incidents over the past number of years. Stabbings, shootings, assaults.It runs the gamut."

Jama's death is the city's13thhomicide of 2016, and comes a day aftera man was shot and killed on Elmira Drive.

Some residents in the neighbourhood say the shooting near theSuya Spot has them feeling uneasy about their safety.

"Yeah, it frightens me ... absolutely,"saidFrank Roche,who has been living in the area for sixyears. "I'm thinking of moving out of the neighbourhood probably pretty soon."

Marguerite Dehler has been living in theneighbourhood for a decade, and said the shootingnear the restaurant has had a bigimpact.

"There's a ripple effect throughout the community. Everybody is affected one way or another by the constant ruckus that is in this neighbourhood," said Dehler.

"People that have to go to work very early in the morning on weekends when they're having their parties get harassedby people that have been inside [the SuyaSpot]."

Bordeleau saidit will take mounting pressure from the police service, the city, bylaw services andthe community toget the restaurant closed for good.