A 30-year-old woman has died of her injuries after a daylight stabbing in the ByWard Market Friday afternoon, police say. It's Ottawa's 15th homicide of 2016.

Ottawa police have identified the woman as Kayla Sullivan.

Paramedics were called just after 4:30 p.m. to the west side of the Salvation Army Booth Centre at 171 George St., near Cumberland Street, on reports of a brawl.

A woman was stabbed in the lower back and taken to hospital in critical condition. A man in his 30s was also stabbed in the chest and taken to hospital in serious condition.

Police initially said Friday that two people were in custody following the stabbing, but later said one man with minor injuries was in custody in Gatineau.

On Friday evening, Duty Insp. Mark Patterson said the woman who was stabbed had come out of surgery in stable but critical condition. She succumbed to her injuries early Saturday morning, police said.

'I could have been stabbed'

Samantha Warden said she was standing next to her friend when someone came from behind and stabbed her friend in the back.

"I could have been stabbed," she said. "He came up behind her. Stabbed her. He went running through the parking lot. She was screaming, 'I got stabbed. I got stabbed.'"

Warden said a group chased after the man who stabbed her friend, and that a man was stabbed trying to stop the suspect. She described the incident as a "money, drug-related situation."

Adam Smith and Samantha Warden say they witnessed the stabbing Friday afternoon in the Byward Market. (CBC) Adam Smith, 19, said he was part of the group that tried to stop the man who stabbed the woman.

"Five of us went out and beat him up," Smith said. "He got away."

Police said there was "conflicting information" about what led to the stabbing.

"We know there was an altercation that took place in this location and a secondary altercation that took place after that," said Patterson.

Several weapons were recovered and police were also going through video taken by a witness, he added.