Bounty led to triple shooting of Ottawa brothers: Sources

It was a hefty robbery of drugs and money in the Dominican Republic that led to a criminal underworld bounty that left two Ottawa brothers dead and another injured, CBC News has learned.

Abdulaziz Abdullah, 34, and Mohamad Abdullah, 27, were both fatally shot Friday around 6:30 p.m. in a packed Alta Vista Drive parking lot. Third brother Fawaz Abdullah was also shot but is expected to survive his injuries. The brothers are believed to have been unarmed at the time.

The Dominican robbery, according to associates with knowledge of what happened, was pulled off in part by slain Abdulaziz "EZ" Abdullah and brother Fawaz "Caesar" Abdullah.

It's not known how long the pair were in the Dominican but Abdulaziz Abdullah was arrested there and brought back to Toronto to face an unrelated attempted murder charge in 2020, according to sources.

While the brothers have been convicted of crimes and served jail time for what were gun possession charges or low-level crimes born from disputes with associates, their criminal activity was becoming highly organized, according to police sources.

The Dominican robbery meant a potential financial payout for anyone who could deliver retribution to the brothers.

Police believe Ottawa's Abdullahi "Avon" Osman, 29, was part of the planning, but that hired hands Ahmed "Baby Dice/Dice/Dicey" Siyad, 28, and Mohamed "Waldo" Shire, 31, both from Toronto, executed the shooting.

Ottawa police homicide detectives have obtained Canada-wide arrest warrants for first-degree murder and attempted murder for these three men allegedly involved in the shooting.

Police found the alleged getaway vehicle from the shooting parked off an Old Richmond Road trail in Kanata South. That vehicle, a white Acura, had been reported stolen from Toronto, according to sources.

2nd time Osman charged with murder

This is the second time alleged co-conspirator Abdullahi Osman has been charged in an Ottawa murder investigation. In June 2015, Osman was charged with first-degree murder for allegedly driving the getaway car in the gangland execution of 27-year-old Yusuf Ibrahim.

That murder case collapsed the following year when the Crown abandoned charges against both Osman and the alleged shooter when there were concerns about how a witness in the case was handled by police.

In the past week, four Ottawa men were killed by gunfire and two others were injured.

Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said Monday there's no "simple thread" connecting the recent spike in gun crimes.

"The crimes that happened over the weekend, at this point there is no known connection between them," Sloly said.

The force is currently investigating four shootings since last Wednesday, when police were called to Palmerston Drive following the shooting of a 22-year-old man who was found dead inside a car. On Friday evening, Ottawa police were called to Alta Vista Drive after the two Abdullah brothers were shot dead.

Early Sunday morning, a 27-year-old man was shot to death in a parking lot near Cyrville and Meadowbrook roads. Police were also investigating another shooting on Woodroffe Avenue Sunday night, just after 7 p.m.