Death investigation on Water Street

Cornwall firefighters, paramedics and police at the scene of a death at this home on Water Street East in Cornwall, Ont. on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020. An investigation is ongoing. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston)

Update 8:20 p.m. Sunday: Water Street death turned over to coroner; no criminal element

CORNWALL – The Cornwall Police Service is actively investigating a death at a multi-unit building on Water Street East Saturday night.

Cornwall firefighters, paramedics and police were called to 418 Water Street, on the southwest corner of Water Street and Bergin Avenue, around 5:40 p.m.

Sgt. Scott Coulter told Cornwall Newswatch there’s an death investigation underway and CPS would be holding the scene for a while.

Other details, such as any identifiers on the victim, were not immediately available because it’s early on in the investigation, Coulter said.

He also couldn’t say at this point whether the death was suspicious.

Police officers were carrying evidence bags into the building.

It appears emergency responders came upon a bloody scene inside the two-storey building, as firefighters were carrying out their bunker gear in plastic bags and Cornwall-SDG paramedics were wearing personal protective equipment (PPE or plastic gowns) over their uniforms.

Paramedics with the Cornwall-SDG Paramedic Service strip their personal protective equipment on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020 after a death on Water Street East in Cornwall, Ont. Police are investigating the death. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston)

An EMS stretcher was sitting outside the building on the Water Street sidewalk for some time but nobody was taken from the scene before Cornwall-SDG Paramedic Services left.

At one point, a firefighter could be seen carrying two pairs of rubber boots into the home.

The building is the same location where a man was stabbed on the lawn during a fight in September 2017. The attacker was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for attempted murder.

The home has been described in court proceedings as a “rooming house.”