Fatal shooting, stabbing, car-dragging incident mean ‘busy night shift’
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/10/2017 (2351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A fatal shooting. A serious stabbing. A police officer, caught by a seatbelt and dragged by a fleeing driver’s car.
It’s far from the worst night of violence that Winnipeg police have faced. But those three unrelated incidents, occurring just six hours apart on Friday night and early Saturday, made for a taxing night for first responders.
“A busy night shift” is how Const. Jay Murray’s colleagues described it when the WPS spokesman arrived for work Saturday morning. It was certainly an above-average night for challenging incidents, Murray said later.
The mayhem began at about 10:45 p.m. Friday night when a witness reported that a man had been shot.
Emergency crews rushed to a house at 706 Sherbrook St., near Health Sciences Centre, where they found the victim. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and pronounced dead a short time later.
The man is the 22nd homicide victim in Winnipeg this year.
Police did not disclose the victim’s name Saturday, pending notification of next of kin. He was “known to police,” Murray said, and was either a resident or a regular presence at the house where he was shot.
“We do not believe this was a random incident,” Murray said.
Almost four hours later, while investigators were on scene on Sherbrook — 16 police cars responded to the shooting within the first hour — a downtown traffic stop turned into a frightening ordeal for another officer.
Shortly after 2:15 a.m., patrolling officers spotted a sedan on St. Mary Avenue with what appeared to be fresh damage to its side. After pulling the car over, police discovered the driver was the subject of two arrest warrants.
As an officer tried to make the arrest, the driver sped away. The officer, partly entangled by the car’s seatbelt, was dragged around 75 metres towards Vaughan Street before he was finally able to work himself free.
Despite the ordeal, the officer was not seriously injured; he was treated in hospital and released.
“When this was voiced (over the police radio), I can tell you most people’s hearts are thinking you don’t know how it’s going to end,” Murray said. “It could have ended a lot worse.”
Just 11 minutes after the driver fled, a passerby spotted the abandoned sedan in the 200 block of Balmoral Street, where it had struck two parked cars. The suspect remained at large as of Saturday morning.
Police did not release the suspect’s name, pending a formal arrest warrant for these new charges.
“Most traffic stops in the city go without incident,” Murray said. “I’m going to guess that this individual knew he was breaching court-ordered conditions, and had two warrants, and made the decision to pull away.
“This person is now going to face significantly more severe charges than if they’d just said, ‘You got me.’”
The busy night wasn’t over yet. There was still one more shock of violence in store before dawn.
At about 4:30 a.m., emergency crews received a report that a man had been stabbed. They rushed to a Pritchard Avenue house, where they found the 25-year-old victim, who had been stabbed multiple times.
He was rushed to hospital in critical condition with serious injuries, and later upgraded to stable.
Police believe the victim was standing outside the house when he was approached by a male whom he knew. Though the investigation is in its early stages, police do not currently believe that it was gang-related.
No arrests had been made as of Saturday morning. As with the other cases, police encourage anyone with information to contact police at 204-986-6316, or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).
melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Melissa Martin
Reporter-at-large (currently on leave)
Melissa Martin reports and opines for the Winnipeg Free Press.
History
Updated on Saturday, October 21, 2017 1:43 PM CDT: Photo added.
Updated on Saturday, October 21, 2017 10:10 PM CDT: Updates