A knife-wielding man killed by police Tuesday morning after going on a deadly rampage inside a Wolseley care home had been exhibiting bizarre behaviour in recent weeks that had neighbours baffled.
Winnipeg police are now equally stunned, saying they had no choice but to shoot the armed suspect when they arrived at Madison Memorial Lodge on Evanson Street just after 8 a.m. to find a horrific scene inside.
One elderly tenant — identified by residents as Alex Kowalchuk — had suffered a gruesome neck injury that would take his life. A second senior had also suffered knife wounds.
The suspect was still armed with the weapon when confronted by police in the communal kitchen of the facility, which is located in the basement of the four-storey building.
Police spokeswoman Const. Jacqueline Chaput said the man refused to drop the weapon, triggering a deadly encounter with officers. The mental health of the dead killer will likely be a key issue as police investigate the incident, which will also be the subject of a mandatory provincial inquest because a civilian was killed at the hands of police.
Some residents of the building said they do not feel safe because it has become a warehouse for some of society’s most vulnerable, including the mentally ill, addicts, recently paroled prisoners and the elderly. The building is run by a non-profit agency.
Some tenants of the building told the Free Press they heard officers first tried to use a Taser to stop the man, but to no avail.
“I heard three shots — pow, pow, pow,” said resident Chris Shaw, who awoke in his main-floor suite to the sounds of arguing, screaming and eventually gunfire coming from the basement.
Police weren’t releasing the names of the man they killed, but residents knew him by the first name of Mohammed and described him as having a slight build and a normally pleasant demeanor.
Shaw, 37, said he noticed a disturbing change in behaviour from the man in recent weeks.
“Mohammed moved in more than a year ago, and I’d always say ‘Hi’ to him and he’d always say ‘Hi’ to me. But the last three weeks or so, he’s been real quiet, staying to himself,” said Shaw.
“He would go outside, be out there alone for like six or seven hours at a time, just pacing around, talking to himself,” said Shaw.
He said a care worker at the home recently told him “Mohammed is sick. He’s hallucinating.”
Another resident said the man was upset because of a recent court case in which he was the subject of a restraining order.
Shaw described the stabbing victim, Kowalchuk, as a “very cool guy” and long-time resident who never rubbed anyone the wrong way.
“I’ve been here four years and five months, and he was here before me. He was a very nice person, a bit older, people would always help him on payday get to Harry’s to buy some groceries,” he said.
Shaw said Kowalchuk used a walker and had difficulty moving around on his own, which required him to receive home care at the block.
“They would come in, do his laundry, clean his room, that sort of thing,” he said.
Neighbour Gary Chartrand called Kowalchuk a “very easy-going” man who liked watching the Space Channel in the lodge’s common room, and never had conflicts with other residents.
“He was a frail old gentleman,” said Chartrand. “I don’t understand it.”
Shaw said he heard the other stabbing victim — a man he only knew as Woody — may have suffered a stroke while being attacked. Police said his condition isn’t considered to be life-threatening.
Residents gathered outside the block yesterday, still stunned at what had gone down. Wayne Dorvault said the building’s administrator Susan Hall-Amado was telling people to stay in their rooms.
“Nine cop cars pulled up and they ran into the building,” he said. “I heard three shots and one guy was taken out stabbed in the throat. One other guy (who was injured) didn’t look too serious.”
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority sent its four-member mobile crisis unit to the building, said spokeswoman Heidi Graham.
“It’s traumatic for people who witnessed it,” she said.
And for the people cowering in their rooms who heard it.
“He was threatening to hurt someone,” said resident Brian Byers, who’s lived in the building 20 years. Byers said he was too frightened to leave his suite to go to the communal kitchen area for breakfast.
Police initially told reporters at the scene Tuesday morning that just one person was taken to hospital in critical condition. No mention was made of police using deadly force or shots being fired. As soon as reporters left the scene, a police cruiser was taped off as part of the crime scene. The officer involved in fatal shooting has a number of years’ experience, said Chaput. He will be interviewed by homicide detectives and forced to turn in his weapon and go on mandatory leave under police protocol.
Ú carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Ú www.mikeoncrime.com
— With files from Lindsey Wiebe
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