Woman shot by police after fleeing traffic stop, SIU says

Ontario's police watchdog says a 25-year-old woman has been injured in a "police-involved" shooting Friday afternoon in Westboro after fleeing a traffic stop.

In a social media post on Friday afternoon, the Ottawa Police Service said the shooting happened around 1:30 p.m.

Ottawa paramedics told CBC a woman was shot and taken to hospital in critical condition.

Ottawa police officers stand at the scene of a shooting in the city's Westboro neighbourhood on Friday. (CBC)

In a news release Friday evening, Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said an officer conducted a traffic stop near Churchill and Avondale avenues.

According to the SIU's preliminary information, the woman got out of the vehicle and ran away, and police chased after her.

"At some point, the officer discharged his firearm and the woman was struck," reads the news release.

The SIU investigates incidents involving police in Ontario where there's been death, serious injury or sexual assault, or if shots have been fired.

Police tape surrounds the intersection of Avondale and Tweedsmuir avenues in Ottawa's Westboro neighbourhood after a shooting that sent one woman to hospital in critical condition Friday. (Nicole Williams/CBC)

Rodrigo Demetrio, who lives near the scene of the shooting, said he and his wife heard a sound "like three gunshots, but we weren't expecting that could be a real gunshot."

Several nearby residents including Demetrio told CBC News they witnessed a swarm of police officers and vehicles at the scene.

The area where the shooting took place has been closed to traffic and motorists are asked to avoid the area, but police said there is currently no known threat to public safety.

Ottawa police vehicles at the scene of a shooting at Avondale and Tweedsmuir avenues Friday afternoon. (David Bates/Radio-Canada)