City’s 23rd homicide victim identified

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This article was published 17/06/2019 (1774 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The victim of Monday’s fatal shooting outside a West End elementary school has been identified as 23-year-old Chad McKenzie, whose rap sheet includes past convictions for robbery, drug and weapons offences.

Between March 2016 and September 2017, McKenzie pleaded guilty to six criminal offences, including one count of robbery, two drug charges and three weapons violations, according to court documents obtained by the Free Press.

His first three convictions resulted in sentences of conditional discharges and probation. In January 2016, he pleaded guilty to robbery, which resulted in the court imposing a 10-year weapons ban upon him.

In September 2017, he was arrested and charged with possession of a prohibited firearm with ammunition. He was sentenced to three years in custody.

People who knew McKenzie expressed shock at the news of his death Monday on social media.

“Rest easy my friend,” wrote Tyler Highway, who, in a Facebook post, said he knew the victim.

“Didn’t expect to see this today,” Highway wrote. “Keep your friends and (family) close, drop the arguments (and) motivate your loved ones. You never know when it may be the last time you see someone.”

McKenzie was shot outside John M. King School (525 Agnes St.) shortly before 6 a.m. Monday. He was transported in critical condition to hospital, where he died.

The death marks Winnipeg’s 23rd homicide of the year, and the ninth stemming from gun violence.

“Early indications are, and this is very preliminary, this may not have been random,” Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Rob Carver told reporters Monday.

Investigators are asking area residents and businesses to review security systems for any video connected to the case. Anyone with information is asked to call homicide investigators at 204-986-6508.

The slaying marks the sixth active case WPS homicide investigators have on their plate; arrests have been made in 17 others.

Less than six months into 2019, the city has already recorded more homicides than all of last year (Winnipeg’s 22nd and final homicide of 2018 took place Dec. 17). The highest number recorded in Winnipeg in a single calendar year was 41, in 2011.

— with files from Ryan Thorpe

caitlyn.gowriluk@freepress.mb.ca