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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Father searched for slain son

Called police, hospitals but couldn't find him

By: Alexandra Paul

Posted: 02/15/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

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John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press Eli Mandamin weeps as he talks about his son Wahbishhkanacot (Wahb) Mandamin, 18, who was killed outside Canad Inns Polo Park early Tuesday morning.

A distraught father says he spent hours searching for his son with a growing sense of panic Tuesday after hearing an 18-year-old was stabbed outside Canad Inns Polo Park.

Hours later and almost by accident, Eli Mandamin learned his boy, Wahbishhkanacot (Wahb) Eli Mandamin Jr., was dead.

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Wahb Mandamin

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Boris Minkevich / Winnipeg Free Press Clothes and medical supplies lie at the crime scene outside Canad Inns Polo Park. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

He said a doctor who identified herself as a medical examiner gave him the news at Health Sciences Centre, where he'd gone to look for his son.

"I was praying to God he was alive and I could go and see him," Mandamin said, minutes after learning the news Tuesday morning.

By about noon, the father still hadn't met with homicide investigators. And he still hadn't seen his son.

"They weren't returning my calls," the dad said. "They could have let me be at his bedside. They could have done that," he said, his eyes full of tears.

The teen was visiting Winnipeg from the Iskatewizaagegan First Nation (Shoal Lake 39) in northwestern Ontario, said his father, who is the First Nation's chief.

The older man had driven to Winnipeg Monday night to take his son home and waited all night, unable to reach him and growing more worried with each passing hour.

The mother of his son's girlfriend called him in a panic at 6:25 a.m.

"She said, 'Your son's been stabbed and they won't tell me where he is. I gave the police your phone number and they're supposed to call you,' " Mandamin said.

The police called an hour later and told him they'd been interviewing witnesses at the crime scene, but they didn't tell him where his son was.

Mandamin spent the morning calling city hospitals and visiting two. He went to Health Sciences Centre three times but couldn't confirm anything.

"I said, 'It's on the news! One is critical and the other is stable. What's going on?' But nobody, the police or the hospital, was sharing any information," Mandamin said.

Mandamin Jr. came to Winnipeg with his pregnant girlfriend for an ultrasound appointment.

Winnipeg police spokeswoman Const. Natalie Aitken said later Tuesday police try to contact next of kin as soon as possible.

But in a homicide investigation, detectives must first confirm a victim's identity and collect evidence, delaying family viewing until after an autopsy, Aitken said.

Mandamin Jr. was rushed to hospital in critical condition early Tuesday after he was stabbed at Canad Inns Polo Park. Another man was taken to hospital in stable condition.

The teenager's death is the city's fourth homicide of 2012.

His father said Tuesday afternoon, after meeting with investigators, that his son, his girlfriend and another friend played VLTs at the hotel Monday night and tried to ignore a couple of people who were bothering them.

"The two young guys were taunting them. They ignored them, then my son went outside for a smoke and his friend followed him, because he'd gone out by himself and he was alone," the father said.

It was too late.

"They were already working him over and he tried to stop them, but he got stabbed in the back."

The Free Press has learned police have one person in custody and are reportedly looking for two others, but they would not confirm that Tuesday.

Homicide investigators remained on the scene for hours, and medical supplies and discarded clothing were strewn metres from the hotel's doors. Droplets of blood were visible on the sidewalk, as well as what appeared to be blood on one of the doors.

Police are asking anyone with information to call the homicide unit at 986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 786-8477.

-- with files by Gabrielle Giroday

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 15, 2012 A4

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