Devon Labelle, 24, was killed in Montreal Road stabbing

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Ottawa police have identified the man killed in a daylight stabbing Thursday in the city's Vanier neighbourhood.

Devon Labelle, 24, was killed in the attack on Montreal Road near Bégin Street, the Ottawa Police Service said today in a news release.

Investigators with the major crime unit do not believe the stabbing was random, police said. 

Witnesses told CBC News Friday that Labelle was walking out of the Jean Coutu pharmacy on Montreal Road when he was surrounded by a group of men who attacked him.

Paramedics arrived on scene at around 3:20 p.m. yesterday to find Labelle suffering from life-threatening stab wounds.

He was sent to hospital in critical condition. Not long afterward, paramedics confirmed the victim had been pronounced dead in hospital. 

Police said Friday a knife was also found at the scene. 

Nora Aubrey-Lafreniere said some of the alleged attackers ran past her house on Carillon Street, about two blocks north of the stabbing.

"I gather they were the ones that were guilty, because we were near the house and there was two guys yelling to [someone], 'Let's get out of here, we want to get out of here, we don't want to be seen here,'" she said.

On Friday afternoon, investigators had also cordoned off a small children's park at the intersection of Carillon and Park streets with police tape.

"They searched the grounds, searched the garbage cans," said Bill Silver. "They asked if I had seen anybody running through here. And I hadn't."

The force's major crime unit continues to investigate, and police say they've obtained security camera footage from both the pharmacy and nearby businesses.

The killing is Ottawa's second homicide of 2017.