March, July, and Now the August Long Weekend: One Hardware Store at Preston and Gladstone Has Been Shot At Three Times This Year and Ottawa’s Guns and Gangs Unit Is Asking the Street for Video (Originally Reported September 4, 2026)
OTTAWA — This file was first reported on Friday, September 4, 2026 and is not a story that broke today. The Ottawa Police Service has disclosed that one business at Preston Street and Gladstone Avenue has been shot at three separate times in 2026. The most recent came overnight on August 29. Nobody was hurt. The file sits with the Guns and Gangs Unit, and no one has been charged in any of the three.
Three shootings at one commercial address inside six months is a pattern rather than a coincidence, and the unit holding it says so by existing. What the force has not done is characterise that pattern.
What Ottawa Police Have Confirmed
Police say evidence of gunshots was found outside Preston Hardware, near the Preston Street and Gladstone Avenue intersection, on August 29, 2026. It is believed the shots were fired overnight. No one was reported hurt.
The force says shootings were also reported at the same location on March 16 and July 9, 2026. Investigators are asking anyone who may have witnessed suspicious activity in the area, or who has relevant video surveillance or dash camera footage, to contact the Guns and Gangs Unit at 613-236-1222, extension 5050.
The Three Incidents as Police Have Described Them
- Location: Preston Hardware, near the intersection of Preston Street and Gladstone Avenue, Ottawa.
- Incident one: March 16, 2026. Reported as a shooting. No further detail released.
- Incident two: July 9, 2026. Reported as a shooting. No further detail released.
- Incident three: August 29, 2026. Evidence of gunshots found outside the business; shots believed fired overnight. No injuries.
- Unit: Ottawa Police Service Guns and Gangs Unit, 613-236-1222 extension 5050.
- Appeal: witnesses to suspicious activity in the area, and anyone holding surveillance or dash camera video.
- Arrests and charges: none announced in any of the three incidents.
- What is absent: no occurrence numbers, no round counts, no description of the damage, no suspect or vehicle descriptions, no times for the March and July incidents, no statement on whether the three are believed linked, no named investigator, and no motive.
The Unit Is the Only Characterisation on Offer
The Ottawa Police Service has not said the three shootings are connected. It has not said the business was targeted, has not described a dispute, and has not named a group, network or criminal organization.
The one thing it has done is put the file with Guns and Gangs rather than with a division. That is a placement, not a statement, and this briefing treats it as no more than that. A repeatedly shot-at commercial premises has an obvious shape to it in this city, but police have not given that shape a name and neither will this file.
Overnight, and Found Afterwards
The wording of the August 29 incident is worth recording precisely. Police did not respond to a shooting in progress. They say evidence of gunshots was found outside the business, and that the shots are believed to have been fired overnight.
That phrasing means the gunfire was not reported as it happened and the timing is an inference from the scene. It leaves open how long the evidence sat there before anyone found it, which the force has not addressed.
Sourcing and the State of the Newsroom
CTV News Ottawa attributes the account to the Ottawa Police Service, which indicates a release or a statement to media. This briefing could not verify a corresponding entry on the Ottawa Police Service newsroom at time of filing.
Everything above therefore rests on the CTV News Ottawa report of September 4, and the force’s newsroom will be re-checked on a later run so any release can be folded in. No other outlet was carrying the story at time of filing.
Ottawa Police Service — Preston Street and Gladstone Avenue, 2026
Primary Wire Sources
- CTV News Ottawa, Ted Raymond: “Ottawa police investigating 3rd shooting outside Preston Hardware”, published Friday, September 4, 2026 at 11:59 a.m. EDT. All three dates, the location, the overnight timing, the absence of injuries, and the Guns and Gangs Unit contact were confirmed on that page.
- CTV News Ottawa attributes the account to the Ottawa Police Service. No corresponding entry could be verified on the Ottawa Police Service newsroom at time of filing, and the newsroom will be re-checked on a later run.
- No other outlet was carrying this story at time of filing; the account rests on the CTV News Ottawa report.
- The Ottawa Police Service has not stated that the three incidents are linked, has not stated a motive, and has named no criminal organization. None is named in this briefing.
