Ottawa Police have arrested a sixth person in relation to the January homicide of 28-year-old Mohamed Najdi. This arrest comes a few days after 5 men were charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in the case.
The man is expected to appear in court Friday.
On Saturday, four men were arrested in different areas of the city, one was already in jail on an unrelated charge.
Lual Lual, 26, Ali Elenezi, 18, Mohamed Yusuf, 25, Alaa Asiri, 33, and Mohamed Mohamed, 32, are all charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping. Four of the five appeared in court Sunday by video link and are expected to appear in court again on April 25, 2016. The fifth man will appear in court for the first time next week.
The lawyer for Alaa Asiri said his client faces serious charges.
"When you see an allegation of first degree murder there is, that means the police are alleging some kind of premeditation," said Joseph Addelman. "There aren't any more serious charges in the criminal code.
Police were called to Claremont Drive in the area of St. Laurent Blvd and Hemlock Road around 10:40 p.m. Sunday, January 10. Najdi was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
According to court documents, police allege Najdi and a friend were sitting in a car in the parking lot of the cooperative housing complex when a black Suburban truck came rushing in. Police allege the suspects jumped out of the car and attacked the two men. Police say Najdi's friend was bound with duct tape and thrown into the black truck. Najdi, the documents allege, was shot in the back as he tried to flee.
A woman who only wanted to be identified as Stephanie found the man at her doorstep moments later.
"I hear I got shot. I got shot. Can you please open the door? But I was upstairs with my kids and right around my due date" she said.
"When I come out the next day the blood was all over. Because I guess when he was shot he rin the bell and after that he could not come down," she said.
The documents go on to say that the suspects allegedly released Najdi's friend after stopping at a gas station in Orléans, then an undisclosed residence to dispose of their weapons.
Investigators believe the shooting was targeted and gang-related.
The victim was known to police. Court documents, however, indicate a long history with the criminal justice system. Najdi had served time and been on probation for a variety of criminal offences from forgery of documents, to fraud over $5,000 and failure to comply with conditions. In January 2008, Najdi and four others were charged with attempted murder in relation to a drive-by shooting. All charges were dropped in March 2008.
