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Woman dies after St. Vital stabbing

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 06/20/2012 9:39 AM | Comments: 0 | Last Modified: 06/20/2012 6:38 PM | Updates

Police tape off an area on Clayton Drive this morning after a woman was stabbed in a parking lot.The woman later died. (WAYNE GLOWACKI/ WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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A montage of photos celebrates a relationship on Kaila Tran's Facebook page. (FACEBOOK)

A woman who died after being stabbed in a parking lot in the St. Vital area this morning has been identified by friends as Kaila Tran.

Friends posted messages online mourning the young woman's death. Police did not confirm the woman’s identity Wednesday afternoon.

According to her sister’s Facebook profile picture, Tran was 26. Her sister posted a profile picture with photos of her and her sister and the words, "The invisible ties between sisters are the strongest bonds... forever missed but never forgotten."

Police received a call just after 7 a.m. about an injured person in the 100 block of Clayton Drive this morning.

Witnesses said neighbours heard the woman screaming, rushed out to intervene and scared off the attacker.

Lois Coish, who’s lived in the building opposite for 17 years, was standing outside at 7 a.m. when she heard the woman yell, "Leave me alone!" and then begin to scream.

"I thought he was hitting her. I didn’t see a knife," Coish said.

Another neighbour, who lived in the same building as the woman and asked not to be identified, said he heard the woman’s screams and rushed to the window. He saw the woman, who had apparently been getting into her car to go to work, on the ground with a man standing over her stabbing her. As neighbours rushed from the building, the man ran off, said the neighbour.

Four or five ran from the woman’s building and others came from a building across the street. A man from that building got on a bike and chased the man as he ran about a block along Clayton Drive, before deking toward the river and dropping over an embankment. The bike could not follow.

At one point, said Kevin Olivier, who lived in the same building as the woman, the man fleeing dropped something and turned back to pick it up.

Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen said he wasn’t aware if a weapon had been located, and said the death wasn’t yet being called a homicide. He said the death was being treated as suspicious.

The area is not in "lockdown," Michalyshen said, but noted "officers may have advised some people to remain indoors for a period of time while officers investigated."

Michalyshen had no word on any arrests. He said officers were trying to gather as much information at the scene as possible.

"I don’t have enough details really to say, ‘Yes, this was a manhunt,’" said Michalyshen. The police helicopter is not being used in the case, he said.

"Whether they were searching the area — and when I say ‘searching the area,’ sometimes we don’t know exactly what we’re getting ourselves into, and I’m not providing details regarding any suspect or suspects — but certainly, were we searching the area? Absolutely."

As the man fled, neighbours performed first aid on the woman who had a cut hand, a stab wound to her shoulder near her neck and damage to her teeth. The woman was struggling to breathe and unable to talk, according to the witness who did not want to be identified.

Olivier said the woman lived with her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s mother lives in a building across the street.

"It’s all a little startling," a witness told the Free Press. "But all areas are getting mixed up now."

The neighbourhood is tucked along the banks of the Seine River across from the Niakwa Country Club. Neighbours spoke of deer meandering through, and some lower balconies have kayaks stored on them where the locals make the most of the river access.

"It’s a strong community," said Debby, one of witness Lois Coish’s neighbours, who declined to give her last name.

"There are many seniors, and they all look out for each other. The younger ones take care of the older ones. That sort of thing." She said she doesn’t think the attack will damage that feeling of security.

But not every neighbour agrees.

"It is shocking," said Olivier. "You just have that feeling you should lock your door. You know what I mean?"

History

Updated on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 12:16 PM CDT: Updated and new headline

12:41 PM: Adds police comment, witness statements.

4:00 PM: Updates

4:44 PM: updates with victim's name

6:18 PM: Updates

6:38 PM: Took out victim's sister's name, after request.

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