Residents of a Vanier neighbourhood struggled Thursday to cope with an arson that killed a man as police investigated a suspicious death.
The Ottawa Police Major Crime Unit was on scene at 303 Blake Blvd. Thursday to investigate a basement apartment fire that left a man dead Wednesday night.
Police said Thursday that a man, who residents said was a tenant in one of the area buildings, was later taken into custody in connection with the incident.
With about a dozen police cruisers and vans parked outside the low-rise apartment Thursday morning, officers cordoned off not only the front entrances of 303 Blake Blvd. and the adjacent building, but the area surrounding a group of apartments in the area. Half a dozen police officers used tools to comb through the freshly fallen snow.
As of Thursday, police had not released the deceased’s identity, but building manager Diane LeBlanc said the victim is thought to be the building’s owner, Said Kasbary, who owns eight other buildings in the neighbourhood.
LeBlanc said Thursday the owner’s grey car remained in the parking lot and that nobody was able to reach him. Kasbary had “a good heart,” and would help anyone in need, she said.
The night before, she was one of the first to see the fire in the basement rental office, where she works during the day.
She ran into the building to get the tenants out.
The tenants, who have since been allowed back in the building, “are pretty shook up,” she said. “A lot of them were in tears.”
Jason Henderson, who lives across the street, saw “flames flying out of the corner basement apartment” Wednesday. He ran into the building to alert the tenants, but was unable to get into the basement unit where the fire began.
“It was just blazing like crazy,” he said of the fire. “I’ve never seen a fire like that before.
“It kind of freaks me out,” Henderson said of the fire.
Area resident Ron Anderson was walking down the street when he saw the fire happen.
“A huge fireball came out of the corner apartment,” he said. “Inside the apartment itself, it looked as if the fire was boiling, it was just tremendous … It wasn’t flames, it was just rolling fire.”
