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Ottawa police have confirmed the arrest of a suspect in a domestic assault case Tuesday following a major search in Old Ottawa South involving the canine unit.

Police arrived on the scene at about 9 a.m.

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They asked residents on Bellwood Avenue and Cameron Avenue between Riverdale and Bank streets to go into their houses and stay off the street.

At one point, an officer told a Bellwood resident to get off the sidewalk and go back inside their house.

“You are contaminating a canine track,” the officer said.

Linda Hancock, who lives on Cameron Avenue, said police officers told her they had captured the suspect at the Tim Hortons on Bank Street, about half a block from the corner of Bank and Cameron.

Hancock said she left her house to walk her own two dogs only to encounter a police officer with a German shepherd and a black Labrador retriever.

The coffee shop was a good place to try to hide, the officer told her, because it’s more difficult for dogs to catch the scent in a busy restaurant.

The search seemed to centre on a triangle of land bordered by Cameron Avenue, Bellwood Avenue, Scotia Place and Willard Street.

Police later said the incident was a domestic assault at about 7:25 a.m. and that there was no indication the public was in danger.

The scene was cleared by about 10:20 a.m.

Police did not say whether the suspect, whose identity was withheld to protect the alleged victim, had been charged.