Ottawa Police say the murder suspect in Friday's Byward Market shooting was the victim of a shooting himself just months ago.
18-year-old Donald Musselman was shot in January inside a Burger King in Vanier.
Musselman now stands charged with second degree murder in the death of 42-year-old Markland Campbell who died in the Byward Market Square near George Street.
Flowers line the spot where Markland Campbell died Friday night in this very public area jammed with families and tourists.
The shooting sent people scrambling for cover. Now some politicians are scrambling for solutions, even calling for a ban on handguns.
The flames are flickering brightly at a tribute on York Street to Markland Campbell; a tribute to a life well-lived.
“I can see that he was much loved,” says a woman who stops to read the cards, “I can see that.”
It is a life that ended in tragedy and horror on this very spot Friday evening.
“I was surprised this happened in the middle of the Market in Ottawa,” adds Elias Barellas, a tourist from Newfoundland.
Campbell was a father - and hip hop artist’ part of a group called the Half Size Giants.
He was shot around 9:30 p.m., collapsing near York Street.
Friends of Campbell's, who gathered at the scene Sunday evening for a vigil, say he died protecting his 18-year-old daughter.
“He loved the city,” said friend Mike Landry, who helped out with the Half Size Giants, “He would bend over backwards to help anybody. Always a kind hearted person. What happened here is wrong. It shouldn't have happened.”
18-year-old Donald Musselman has been charged with second degree murder. Police confirm Musselman is known to them.
“He’s been on our radar,” says Superintendent Chris Renwick with the Ottawa Police Criminal Investigations bureau.
Renwick also confirmed that Musslman had his own encounter with a bullet in January of this year when he was shot inside a Burger King on Montreal Road.
“That one's still under investigation,” Supt. Renwick said, “No charges have been laid in that one. It is still an ongoing investigation by our Guns and Gangs Unit.”
The brazen shooting has shocked the community and prompted calls from some city councillors to push the federal government to ban handguns.
Mathieu Fleury is the councillor for the area, “City-wide, we're seeing an increase in gun violence and whatever we can do to see a reduction in that or stopping it, council needs to look at that.”
It won't be a motion that councillor George Darouze supports.
“You can ban guns all you want,” he says, “They just go to the States and buy them at corner store and smuggle them here. We need to have tougher laws so if the criminal puts his hand on a gun and he gets caught, he goes to jail for a long, long time.”
Musselman is in jail, after making his first court appearance on Sunday. He is back in court on Thursday. In the meantime, the vigil on York Street grows, along with the demand for justice.
Ottawa Police say they aren't looking for any more suspects but they are looking for more witnesses; anything that people saw or heard or recorded on their cellphones.
