A 70-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the
fatal stabbing
of a 58-year-old man in downtown Ottawa on Thursday evening.
Yves Brisebois has been charged by the Ottawa Police Service in the city’s fourth homicide of the year.
Police said that first responders were called to Rideau Street at the intersection with Colonel By Drive at about 5:35 p.m. on Thursday.
The victim was found with life-threatening injuries. Paramedics stabilized him and transported him to hospital, where he died.
The victim had not yet been identified as of Friday afternoon, with police saying that efforts to notify next of kin were still underway.
The victim was known to many members of Ottawa’s unhoused community in the Rideau Street area, who said he was known to use a wheelchair in the winter and a walker in the summer.
Courtenay Rose, who says he’d been friends with the victim for more than 25 years, described the victim as a “transient” person who was looking to find a home and get off the street.
“He’s a good friend of mine … He was a friendly person, very straight up and would give you the shirt off his back,” Rose said. “I can’t believe he got stabbed.”
This wasn’t the first time the victim has been stabbed, his friends said. Around three months ago, they said, he was stabbed in the upper body following a dispute with teens after he refused to give them cigarettes.
Anyone with information about this or any other homicide was asked to contact the Ottawa Police Service Homicide Unit at 613-236-1222 ext. 5493. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-222-8477 or online at crimestoppers.ca.
The previous homicides in Ottawa this year included the shooting death of Majed Al-Ar, 19, on Feb. 11 and the stabbing deaths of
Andrew Dawson-Swan
, 37, and
Shawn Challis-Eatough
, 28, on Feb. 6 and Jan. 28, respectively.
A total of six individuals were charge with either manslaughter or second-degree murder in those cases.
There were 19 homicides reported in Ottawa in 2025.
Related
Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed.
