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A former taekwondo champion is charged with murder in connection with a highrise fire that killed a woman on Christmas Eve morning.
Police picked up Ali Issaky, 23, from his Orleans home Thursday night and brought him in for questioning. By Friday morning he was charged with second-degree murder and arson with disregard for human life.
Firefighters evacuated the 15-floor building at 1695 Playfair Dr., in the Alta Vista area, around 4:30 a.m. Thursday after flames filled the second floor. About a dozen residents received medical attention and four were transported to hospital. Many of the building’s residents are seniors.
The name of the 57-year-old woman who died has not been released. Police were waiting to confirm her identity.
Another person was in critical condition Friday.
Issaky is married with a toddler-aged daughter. The family has been living with his father in Orleans.
“He said he has nothing to do with this,” his father David Issaky said, explaining that his son called from jail Friday morning.
Ali Issaky has been arrested on minor offences before, but “he would never do this kind of thing” as police allege, the father said.
“I hope these things aren’t true.”
David Issaky said he doesn’t know who the fire victims are.
“I don’t know anybody in that building,” he said.
In his teens, Ali Issaky was an accomplished athlete who won a world taekwondo title in South Korea in 2004. A year later he won two golds at the Canadian International Taekwondo Federation Championships.
He studied at the University of Ottawa and worked as a car salesman, but lately he’s been unemployed, his father said.
Major crime detectives and the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office have been investigating the fire. Smoke filled the building, prompting residents to scream for help from their balconies.
It isn’t clear what led to the fire, but residents on the first and third floors reported hearing a loud party somewhere on the second floor early Thursday, followed by commotion in the stairwell. One resident said a man ran from the building.
Firefighters called in a four-alarm blaze at the building. Some people escaped their units by tying sheets together, while others waited on their balconies for firefighters to rescue them.
The second floor, which was guarded by police yesterday, is heavily damaged.