Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe described the shooting incident that occurred on Saturday evening, which led to the deaths of two people and the injury of six others outside a wedding in South Ottawa, as "shocking," and stated that he supports efforts to allocate more police resources to combat gun crime.

In an interview on Monday, he said, "It is extremely concerning, and frankly shocking, to hear about a shooting of this kind happening in the southern end of Ottawa. My heart goes out to all the residents in that area; it must have been extremely distressing for them to hear about this event."

Police did not provide any further information on Monday regarding the shooting, except to say that investigators continue to pursue all leads and are asking anyone with information to come forward. As of Sunday, they had not announced any arrests related to the shooting that took place outside the Infinity Convention Centre on Gifford Drive in the Uplands neighborhood.

The police stated that this incident marks the eleventh and twelfth homicides in Ottawa this year. Sutcliffe noted that Ottawa remains a safe city and that such violence is rare. According to the latest data released by Statistics Canada for 2022, Ottawa had the sixth-lowest crime severity index among 35 urban areas in Canada.

However, Sutcliffe mentioned that residents have repeatedly expressed their concerns about safety and security.

He said, "Ottawa is relatively a very safe place to live, but any event like this is extremely concerning, and even one event is one event too many, so we need to allocate more resources behind that, and we need to allocate more of the police budget to combat guns and gangs in our city."

Ottawa Police are scheduled to provide an update on the preparation of the 2024 budget at the upcoming Police Services Board meeting scheduled for Thursday. They have already released survey and consultation results indicating that most residents want increased police presence in the city. At last month's meeting, Vice Chair Steve Bell proposed creating 75 additional officer positions by 2026.

Police did not explicitly mention any gang involvement in the shooting, although they did not rule it out and told CBC that "all angles of the investigation are being explored."

Irvin Waller, the emeritus professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, stated that the shooting on Saturday indicates that we need to be "much more aware" of how to combat violence throughout the province.

He added, "This requires action at the provincial level, yes, it requires action in Ottawa. We have a steady number of homicides each year, between 10 and 20 for some time now, with probably half of them related to street gangs."

Waller mentioned it is particularly sad because "we know what needs to be done," as there are street outreach programs supported by studies that reduce crime. He stated that the police have a role, but they are not the only or even the best way to reduce homicides.

He added, "We have certainly not done the known things to stop them, and I think it's time for a city like Ottawa that prides itself on being safe - and where these types of incidents really frighten us - to have a clear and smart policy based on good diagnostics, inspired by the things that have worked."