Police say a 70-year-old man is dead and four others have been hospitalized after an SUV crashed into a downtown Ottawa building this morning.

Ottawa paramedic superintendent Marc-Antoine Deschamps says paramedics had been actively trying to resuscitate the man on the way to the hospital.

The crash happened at the corner of Rideau and Cobourg streets, where a drop-in centre run by Capital City Mission offers meals, coffee and clothing to people in need.

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Deschamps says two other men were hospitalized with critical but non-life-threatening injuries and another pedestrian, a woman, was in stable condition.

He says the man who drove the SUV sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was hospitalized in stable condition.

The grey SUV with a smashed front end remains on the sidewalk in front of the building, surrounded by debris.

Feras Jarmans, an employee of a nearby shawarma restaurant, said he heard the loud crash of the SUV colliding with the building.

Jarmans described a gory scene in the aftermath of the crash. He said the driver left the vehicle visibly shaken and was crying on the sidewalk as police arrived.

Police are asking the public to steer clear of the area as the investigation continues.