Abdullah Al-Tutunji stabbed to death in Ottawa's 2nd homicide this weekend
A man is in custody after a Carleton University student was stabbed to death during a fight that began at a McDonald's on Meadowlands Drive East early Sunday morning.
Police have identified the man who was killed as 20-year-old Abdullah Al-Tutunji. His death is the city's 22nd homicide of the year — more than triple the number of homicides last year.
Al-Tutunji was studying environmental engineering, according to his Facebook page. His cousin, who lives in Oklahoma, declined an interview on Sunday as Al-Tutunji's family mourns his death.
Insp. Glenn Wasson of the Ottawa police said the fight involving two or three men spilled out into the parking lot in the plaza at Meadowlands and Prince of Wales drives around 2:45 a.m.
A second man was taken to hospital with minor injuries but has since been released. He is in police custody but no charges have been laid, he said.
Paramedics said Al-Tutunji was found unconscious with multiple stab wounds when they arrived on scene.
Paramedics tried to resuscitate the man, who was taken to hospital in life-threatening condition but later died of his injuries.
It's the city's second homicide in less than 12 hours.
On Saturday afternoon, a man was killed in a shooting in an apartment on McLeod St. in Centretown. There have been no arrests so far in relation to the shooting.
Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau tweeted Sunday morning that there were "too many lives lost this year." The number is a significant increase over the seven homicides in 2015 and 2014, and nine homicides in 2013.
