Police have charged one man with four criminal offences after an altercation at Carleton that occurred just before 11:30 a.m., Sept. 18 according to Const. Marc Soucy of the Ottawa Police.
Mohamad Abdullah, 20, was charged with assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon, causing a disturbance, and common nuisance. The Ottawa Police’s Guns and Gangs Unit is continuing to investigate, according to a police press release.
Witnesses said they saw two men, one with blood on him and a knife get on the O-Train heading to South Keys just before it left the Carleton station.
One of the men tried to leave the scene but was detained by police officers in front of the Minto Centre, according to witnesses. Both men were in police custody with minor injuries. The other male has since been released.
“They came running on the O-Train just before it was going to leave. The one guy’s hand was bleeding a lot. There was blood all over the floor,” said Riley Malvern, a fourth-year sociology student who was on the train. “Basically they were screaming at each other.”
Another student, Charlotte Sardo said she was near the door when the two men entered the train.
“The skinny guy was yelling at the other guy that, ‘You stabbed me! You stabbed me! You have a knife,’” the second-year communications student said.
Sardo said there was some arguing about who was stabbed. One of the men was holding the door open so the O-Train wouldn’t leave. The conductor came out, saw the blood and called the police, she said.
“It was definitely something I wasn’t expecting to happen here today, to say the least,” said Malvern.
Third-year criminology student Abby Nicastro said she saw the arrest occur in front of the Minto Centre.
“I saw him get tackled by the police officer cause he was trying to flee and get onto the OC Transpo,” she said.
Police taped off multiple areas in the University Centre including the stairs and atrium, and part of the tunnel level of the Tory Building to investigate blood splatter. The blood was cleaned and the tape has since been removed.
Buses were re-routed to Athletics and the 107 was in service as police taped off the O-Train, but service to both the train and Minto Centre bus stop has started up again.
Haley Ritchie and Zachary Novack have the story in photos.
