Further update to Dan's post a couple weeks back. Though the article says 'centretown' I'm under the impression that these attacks occurred mainly in Hintonburg and City Centre neighbourhoods. Which basically involves all of us 'hood peeps.




Police seek suspect in Centretown assaults

Sgt. Dave Veinotte said all three assaults in the city's core appear to have been committed by the same man. (CBC)

Ottawa police are looking for a man they say has committed three daylight assaults on women walking in the city's core, in the last month.

Police say the incidents are unusual in that the assaults all occurred in the late afternoon and that in each case, the assailant hits the woman on the head and then flees.

"He runs away. There's no theft or robbery that occurs," said Sgt. Dave Veinotte. "He just assaults the victims and runs. It's a random unprovoked assault. It is odd."

None of the women's injuries were serious enough to warrant a trip to the hospital.

But police have concerns that the assailant is using an object, possibly a weapon, to hit the women.

And in at least in one case, a woman who knows a victim says her friend was struck with a hammer.

Cheryl Parrott, a member of the security committee of the community association in Hintonburg, where the first of the assaults occurred in December, said they are concerning.

"It's certainly not something you would expect at that time of the day because that's getting off work time," said Parrott. "You're focused on going home, getting supper, doing all the other things you need to do."

Veinotte warned that women should be aware of their surroundings when walking and take precautions regardless of the time of day.

"I would suggest not walking with iPods and taking away that one ability of being able to hear somebody approach them," said Veinotte. "Or if someone's following them or they feel someone's following them, go into a store."

Police describe the suspect as about 25 years old, slim, with wavy dark brown hair and possibly a thin moustache.


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2011/01/10/ottawa-random-assaults-centretown.html#ixzz1AfRWB9zY