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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Backyard brawl ends in fatality, charges laid

By: Gabrielle Giroday

Posted: 06/28/2011 1:00 AM

A fight between two men in the backyard of a West End home ended tragically after one fatally stabbed another early Sunday.

Steven Kyle Dodge, 26, was killed after an argument early Sunday morning in the backyard of an Arlington Street home where his family lived.

Police said the stabbing happened after a disagreement between the two men, and there were several people at the home when it happened. Dodge's mother said in a note to the Free Press her son asked her daughter's boyfriend to leave their home because he was drinking. Instead, he attacked her son in front of her.

The woman said she was kicked in the face and had tried to stop the stabbing but failed. Police said things had "gradually escalated" after the suspect showed up at the home Saturday night, culminating in the two men throwing things at each other and then one pulling out a knife.

"Why things escalated to this point, it is very difficult to say," said Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen.

One nearby neighbour said the family that lived in the house was quiet.

"They seemed OK, you know? I didn't think (any) of this would ever happen," Nuno Pires said.

Police said the stabbing on Arlington Street happened about four hours after the same suspect robbed a man of beer on the 300 block of Nairn Avenue. The stabbing happened at about 10:30 p.m. after a suspect approached a 27-year-old man, who was outside a hotel beer store. Police said the suspect allegedly pushed the man to the ground and then stabbed him, before taking off with his beer. Police do not yet know if the same weapon was used in both attacks.

Police said officers arrested Nathan Allan Bricklin, 18, Sunday.

Bricklin was charged with robbery with a weapon and second-degree murder.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 28, 2011 B2