DRUG CONNECTION IN MISSISSAUGA KILLING

MISSISSAUGA - Drugs are behind the slaying of a well-known member of
this city's underworld, police say, and the shooting at a Hurontario
St. highrise has residents terrified.

"Are you going to protect me if I talk to you?" asked one woman who
lives in the building. "Because if someone finds out I said something,
I could get shot in the face."

Otis Johnson, 34, was shot on the 12th floor of Queensway Manor, a
sprawling, red brick block at Hurontario and The Queensway.

He was able to make it to the lobby after the shooting about 9:30 p.m.
Wednesday. He was pronounced dead early yesterday in hospital.

"It's drug-related," Peel police Insp. Norm English said. The victim
is well-known to police and is not a resident of the building where he
was shot, English said.

He wouldn't comment on whether Johnson had drugs on him when he was
found. Police released few details of the crime.

A 9-mm shell casing was found inside a 12th floor suite and witnesses
told police two men fled the building by climbing over a balcony.

Police would not comment on whether the suite Johnson was shot in was
vacant. Drug dealers often take over empty apartment suites and use
them as flophouses.