Elderly wheelchair user beaten to death in Canada

From QMI in Canada:

OTTAWA, Canada - A 73-year-old wheelchair-bound man was found dead in a pool of blood from an apparent beating March 16.

He had been there at least a day, maybe more, say those who were close to him.

Ottawa police said the death of Lawrence Chartier, 73, is the city's fifth murder of the year.

While the exact cause of death won't be known until autopsy results come back, sources told the Sun the ornery and lonesome man appears to have been bludgeoned to death. He was lying next to his bed with blood around his head.

Police were called to 721 Chapel Cres., an Ottawa Community Housing low-rise on the south edge of Sandy Hill, around 2 a.m.

They wouldn't say the reason for the call. In fact, police weren't saying much about the case Tuesday.

Police taped off the rear of the four-storey building, including a garbage bin, near Chartier's unit.

They also put a police guard outside his door.

"I didn't hear nothing," said Harry McGinnis, who lives beside Chartier's unit.

He said Chartier had been living in the building for about a year.

"Larry is a pretty lonely guy. Poor guy, you know?" McGinnis said. "I don't know if he was a picked target or what."

A plainclothes officer hopped up and peered into the garbage bin at one point, but for only a few moments.

There were more than a dozen officers, led by the major crime unit, at the scene but by 1 p.m. all the commotion had died down and only a few cars remained, along with the tape.

Earlier in the morning, residents of the building were gossiping about what they heard or saw. The building is primarily for residents 60 years of age or older.

Two women said they knew Chartier only to say hi and didn't have anything good to say about him. They said he called 911 too much threatening to kill himself.

"Police were here every week for him," one of the women said.

It was a common thread among all the residents the Sun spoke to.

Recently, Chartier signed up on Facebook and was said to be chatting with his two sons who are believed to live in Montreal.

He also was either estranged or divorced from his wife who lives in Montreal, said a friend who would only give his name as Will.

"He was a grumpy old man. He had it rough. He was still in love with his wife," Will said. "He just wanted to get back into Montreal. He was a lonely man and he was bitter. He was always looking for attention."

The friend said he'd sit and listen to Chartier, letting him pour his heart out. Chartier would also sit alone outside smoking cigarettes in his wheelchair.

"The bastards that did this to him, I'd like to get my hands on them," Will said. "This is not right. It's just not right."

He said he'd remember Chartier as a sad man.