Devon Labelle, 24, named as man killed in Montreal Road stabbing

Ottawa police have identified the man killed in a daylight stabbing Thursdayin the city's Vanier neighbourhood.

Devon Labelle, 24, was killed in the attack on Montreal Road near Bgin Street, the Ottawa Police Service said today in a news release.

• Man dead after daylight stabbing in Vanier

Investigators with the major crime unit do not believe the stabbing was random, police said.

Knife found at scene

Witnesses told CBC News Friday thatLabellewas walking out of theJeanCoutupharmacy on Montreal Road when he was surrounded by a group of men who attacked him.

Paramedics arrived on scene at around 3:20 p.m. yesterday to find Labelle suffering fromlife-threatening stab wounds.

He was sent to hospitalin critical condition. Not long afterward, paramedics confirmed the victim had been pronounced dead in hospital.

Police said Friday a knife was also found at the scene.

'Let's get out of here'

Nora Aubrey-Lafrenieresaid some of the alleged attackersran past her house on Carillon Street, about two blocks north of the stabbing.

"I gather they were theones that were guilty, because we were nearthe house and there was two guys yelling to [someone], 'Let's get out of here, we want toget out of here, we don't want to beseen here,'" she said.

On Friday afternoon, investigatorshad also cordoned off a smallchildren'spark at the intersection of Carillon and Park streets with police tape.

"They searched the grounds, searched the garbage cans," said Bill Silver. "They asked if I had seen anybody running through here. And I hadn't."

The force's major crime unit continues to investigate, and police say they've obtained security camera footage from both the pharmacy and nearby businesses.

The killing is Ottawa's second homicide of 2017.