Omar Rashid-Ghader identified as ByWard Market shooting victim

Ottawa police have identified 33-year-old Omar Rashid-Ghader as the victim in the fatal shooting at the Sentral Nightclub in the ByWard Market Sunday morning.

Duty Insp. Sean McDade said an officer was parked near Dalhousie and Clarence streets around 3:20 a.m. Sunday when people began rushing out of the packed club saying someone had been shot.

The officer called for backup in case there was an active shooter, said McDade.

When they entered the club they found Rashid-Ghader with multiple gunshot wounds. Police performed CPR and paramedics were brought in, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ottawa police are looking for 28-year-old Mustafa Ahmed in relation to the shooting.

They say he's armed and dangerous.

The Ottawa Police Service's major crime unit is investigating the incident. 

McDade said it's a complex investigation because there are a number of witnesses.

Linked to Ottawa gang

Rashid-Ghader was known to police.

In 2005 he was convicted in a home invasion, and at that time police said he was a member of the Ottawa street gang the Ledbury Banff Cripps.

According to court documents, Rashid-Ghader and other members "terrorized" a family by entering their unit and refusing to leave. The gang threatened to hurt the occupants if they called police, according to evidence entered in court.

Rashid-Ghader was convicted of two counts of criminal harassment relating to the home invasion.

Friends say Rashid-Ghader was a rapper who went by the name Esco or Escobar.

Concerns about safety

Randy Granados lives next door to Sentral and was walking home from work when he saw people outside.

"Super terrifying. I mean ... I've seen full on knife fights outside of the bar, just from my bedroom window. So I know that this corner and that bar specifically is pretty questionable at times," he said.

The crime scene attracted onlookers Sunday morning.

Fredericka Gregory has lived in the market area since 2003.

"The market is also still very much a residential area and I think the balance is gone a little bit off in the last years. There's too much of an intensification of bar, after bar and that's where a lot of activity is happening until almost three in the morning on weekends. So I really hope the city does something about this, that the mayor and the city councillors really look into this," she said. 

"It's not the Ottawa I know."

Genevieve Dupuis, 21, said she was going to go to the show at Sentral Saturday night but changed her mind at the last minute.

"Kind of crazy, just knowing that we were down here last night. There was so many people around, we were walking around the streets and then it just happened while we were here. It's not a very safe place to be. You never know what can happen," she said.