News briefs for Friday, December 16, 2022

American linebacker Kyrie Wilson has agreed to a one-year contract extension with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Wilson was scheduled to hit free agency in February.

Wilson started 2022 strong before tearing his Achilles in the fourth game of the season. The weak-side linebacker had 17 tackles and a sack before the injury.

Wilson, a Fresno State product, joined the Bombers in 2017 after a short stint with the Oakland Raiders as an undrafted free agent.

Police have made an arrest in an unprovoked assault that resulted in a senior being pushed into traffic.

The incident happened July 20, 2022, when a 76-year-old woman was coming out of a business in the 600 block of Sargent Avenue when a man pushed her onto the street for unknown reasons. The woman was seriously hurt and remained in hospital for some time, the Winnipeg Police Service stated.

A 30-year-old suspect was identified and he was arrested Dec. 15. The man was charged with aggravated assault and has been detained in custody.

Manitoba recorded 231 cases of influenza last week as rates of the virus continue to surge.

An average 215 people per day were tested for the flu during the week of Dec. 4 to Dec. 10, resulting in a test positivity rate of 27.2 per cent, according to the provincial government’s latest respiratory virus surveillance report, published today.

A data-entry backlog in counting flu cases means those numbers are an under-count.

Twenty-two Manitobans have died of the flu so far this season, and 331 have been hospitalized, including six people last week.

The report notes declining cases of COVID-19, with 154 recorded for the week.

A cyclist has died following a collision with a front-end loader that was moving snow Thursday night.

Winnipeg Police said two-off duty members came across the collision around 10:20 p.m. near Mission Street and Plinguet Street, an industrial area on the east side of the city.

An adult male cyclist was suffering from significant injuries and the off-duty officers provided emergency care. Meanwhile, two on-duty Winnipeg Transit employees stopped to assist by directing traffic. The driver of the front-end loader remained on scene, police said.

When emergency medical crews arrived on the scene, the man was pronounced dead, police said.

Police believe the operator was clearing snow at the time of the collision.

The investigation is continuing and anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police at 204-986-7085.

Defenceman Ville Heinola is joining the Winnipeg Jets as they head out to play back-to-back road games this weekend.

The 21-year-old was called up from the Manitoba Moose on Friday morning. He had 10 assists in 13 AHL games this year, and no points in two games with the Jets.

He’ll take the place of Nate Schmidt, who was hurt in Thursday’s 2-1 overtime win over Nashville. Schmidt took a big hit to the head and entered concussion protocol. He was placed on injured reserve Friday, meaning he will miss at least a week.

Winnipeg plays in Vancouver on Saturday night and in Seattle on Sunday.

Snowplows will head out to clear residential streets again, starting this weekend.

A residential parking ban will kick in Sunday at 7 a.m. and is expected to last until 7 p.m. on Tuesday, according to a city press release.

Winnipeggers are urged to confirm their snow zone letter and ensure their cars are off the street while it is scheduled to be plowed.

Violators could receive a $200 ticket and/or be towed to a nearby street.

Meanwhile, the extended winter route parking ban will be lifted on Sunday at 7 a.m. (which currently bans parking on winter routes between 12 a.m. and 7 a.m. daily), though the annual winter route parking ban (from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. daily) will remain in place.

To check out when your street will be cleared, visit winnipeg.ca/snow

Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson will address media following a meeting with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs on Friday afternoon.

The premier is scheduled to speak at 4 p.m. at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

AMC Grand Chief Cathy Merrick is the leading spokesperson in the call to search Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of Morgan Harris, 39; Marcedes Myran, 26; and a fourth unidentified woman known as Buffalo Woman.

Police have charged Jeremy Skibicki, 35, in the slayings of the three women and of Rebecca Contois, 24, whose partial remains were found at the Brady Road landfill in June. Police believe Harris and Myran’s remains were disposed at Prairie Green, north of Winnipeg earlier this year.

On Thursday, the federal government said it will pay for a feasibility study to search a landfill.

Operations at Prairie Green Landfill were paused last week to allow a First Nations-led committee to study whether a search would be feasible.

RCMP are searching for a suspect after a bank was robbed in Glenboro.

The incident happened on Railway Avenue on Dec. 8 at about 3:05 p.m.

The robber is described as 6-feet-tall with a slim build. He was wearing a black hoodie with the hood up, a black cap with “No Fear” on it, a blue Domino’s Pizza jacket, black pants, sunglasses, black gloves and a blue medical face mask.

RCMP are asking anyone with information about the robbery to call Brandon RCMP at 204-726-7522 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPs). 

A 21-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter after he broke into a St. John’s-area residence and fatally stabbed the owner in the fall of 2020, according to Winnipeg police.

The Winnipeg Police Service announced in a Friday news release that it had detained a suspect in connection to a homicide that occurred more than two years ago, thanks to its forensic identification section.

WPS previously reported responding to a call about an injured male at a house in the 400 block of Atlantic Avenue around 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 11, 2020. Gerald Justin Hamelin, 42, was transported to hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said. 

“It is believed that the suspect had broken into the residence of the victim (whom he knew as a casual acquaintance). A confrontation occurred, and the victim was fatally stabbed,” police said in the release, issued one day after the arrest.

Payton Corydonlee Stagg of Winnipeg is facing charges of manslaughter and break and enter with intent.

A 40-year-old convicted sex offender – who has been deemed high risk to re-offend in a sexual and violent manner against girls and women of all ages – has finished his latest sentence and is expected to move to Winnipeg.

Manitoba police issued a public notice Friday to warn residents that Christopher Assiniboine, who has an extensive criminal record including convictions for sexual assault and robbery, was released from Stony Mountain Institution Friday.

“He is an untreated sex offender… All females, children and adults are at risk,” states a release from the Manitoba Integrated High Risk Sex Offender Unit, a joint-forces project between the Winnipeg Police Service and RCMP.

The notice states Assiniboine just finished serving a sentence for two counts of breaching a decade-long supervision order related to past sexual assault and uttering threats convictions that involved an 18-year-old female stranger.

Assiniboine supplied drugs and alcohol to lure victims from a public place to commit sexual offenses in both May 2015 and September 2009, police said.

The man is subject to a new long-term order that prohibits him from having contact with anyone under 18 unless supervised and prohibits him from consuming, purchasing or possessing alcohol or drugs that have not been prescribed as medication. The new set of conditions also require Assiniboine to live at a site approved by the Correctional Service of Canada.

Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said the province will contribute financial and technical support for an Indigenous-led feasibility study to search the Prairie Green Landfill.

Stefanson announced the support following a meeting with Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick and Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson.

Merrick is the spokesperson, on behalf of families and communities, in the call to search Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of Morgan Harris, 39; Marcedes Myran, 26; and a third unidentified woman known as Buffalo Woman.

Police have charged Jeremy Skibicki, 35, in the slayings of the three women and of Rebecca Contois, 24, whose partial remains were found at the Brady Road landfill in June. Police believe Harris and Myran’s remains were disposed at Prairie Green, north of Winnipeg earlier this year.