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Ottawa police have charged a man with aggravated assault after two off-duty officers from the Halton Regional Police Service were assaulted and injured in the ByWard Market early Sunday morning.
In a news release issued Monday afternoon, Ottawa police confirmed the assault occurred around 1:45 a.m. on York Street between Sussex Drive and Dalhousie Street.
Both of the injured men were transported to hospital with serious injuries, Ottawa police said.
A 25-year-old Ottawa man is facing two counts of aggravated assault. He is due to appear in court Monday afternoon.
Police said further charges could follow as the investigation continues.
According to Ottawa police, the victims were not in uniform, nor wearing any “identifiers as to their profession” at the time of the incident.
No indication victims targeted: Stubbs
During a scheduled media briefing Monday afternoon, Ottawa police Chief Eric Stubbs said the officers were assaulted by a group of “four or five” individuals, but said there’s no reason to believe they were targeted because they’re police.
“There is nothing at this point to indicate that those offenders knew that those two were police officers,” Stubbs said.
“They were in plain clothes, they were in a public space wearing civilian clothes, so there’s nothing to indicate that at this time.”
Ottawa hosted the 46th annual Canadian Police and Peace Officers’ Memorial Service on Parliament Hill on Sunday, and there were related events on the weekend involving police officers from across the country.
Ottawa police did not say whether the two Halton officers injured in Sunday’s incident were here to attend those events.
Halton police referred questions about the incident to the Ottawa Police Service.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the central criminal investigations section at 613-236-1222, ext. 5166.
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