25-year-old woman killed in Gatineau hotel shooting

A 25-year-old woman was shot and killed at a downtown Gatineau hotel Monday night in what police are calling the city's first homicide of the year.

Officers were called to the Four Points Sheraton Hotel on Rue Laurier shortly after 8 p.m. after receiving a 911 call from inside the hotel that shots had been fired in the building.

Officers erected a barricade outside the hotel and found one person inside, suffering from a gunshot wound.

Guests confined at hotel

Guests and staff at the hotel were confined inside as officers carried out their investigation, police said.

Melanie Kirszenblatt and Leslie Savard were walking back to the hotel Monday evening when two police cars came speeding by, lights flashing, heading towards the Sheraton.

"We saw a family running with their young children out the side of the building, so we thought it'd be a good idea to follow them," said Kierszenblatt, who was visiting from Vancouver.

Kierszenblatt and Savard waited at a nearby restaurant, and when it closed around 10 p.m., they ended up at the Canadian Museum of History lobby with about 15 other hotel guests.

Rooms searched, guests' ID checked

It wasn't until Tuesday morning around 6 a.m. that they were cleared to return to their rooms, they said. Staff were asking guests to show ID as they entered and exited the hotel, and officers told them all the hotel's rooms had been searched, Kierszenblatt said.

Police continue to restrict access to the floor where the shooting happened as they investigate, and officers remained on scene Tuesday afternoon.

"It's a major event, so we have a lot of things to look at. We don't want to miss any [evidence]," said Gatineau Police spokesperson Andrée East. "We want to do things right."

The identity of the woman who was killed will not be released at her family's request, police said. An autopsy will be conducted in Montreal, police said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call police at 819-243-2345, ext. 6677.