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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Residents fend off group trying to break into townhouse

By: Jenny Ford

Posted: 07/9/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

PEOPLE inside a besieged northwest Winnipeg townhouse held the front door closed as four armed young men tried to break it down in the middle of the night.

Two 18-year-olds and two 17-year-olds are facing numerous charges, including breaking and entering and assault with a weapon, after they tried to break into the home around 3:30 a.m. Saturday. A 16-year-old girl sustained minor injuries, police said Sunday.

Const. Jason Michalyshen said the alleged attackers and the people inside knew each other, and the break-in was part of an ongoing dispute between them.

A resident at the home, who did not want to be named, said on Sunday that there was a party at the house when the men tried to break in.

"I woke up to the sound of breaking glass," she said. The woman doesn't know why they tried to break in or what the dispute was about.

She said the front and back windows of the townhouse were smashed.

Michalyshen described the weapons as "bats and bat-related-type objects," and "batons and knives," as well.

The suspects fled in a vehicle and police eventually caught them in the area of Kinver Avenue and Keewatin Street with the help of the Air1 police helicopter and the canine unit,

Residents in the row of townhouses awoke to breaking glass and cars screeching away.

Next-door neighbour Simon Belen said he was awakened by the noise of shattering glass and later saw a car race away.

"I heard a loud bang and I heard it twice," he said. "I heard glass shattering, and at first I thought it was our house because it was so loud."

Belen has lived in the townhouse for two years and said parties at his next-door neighbour's don't happen very often.

"That night kind of just got out of hand," he said. "People get rowdy, people get stupid, but breaking in, that is a whole different level."

A neighbour a few doors down saw four people run out into the street early in the morning, yelling "Let's go."

"This is the first time we've seen this happen," said Sonny Sarmiento, who has lived on the street for two years. "It's a party gone wrong."

The men, two 18-year-olds and two 17-year-olds, are also facing charges of possessing a weapon for dangerous purposes, possessing a substance for the purpose of trafficking and possessing proceeds of crime.

They have been released on a promise to appear in court.

-- with files from Kristy Hoffman

jennifer.ford@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 9, 2012 B1

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