Convenience-store worker shot after confronting shoplifter
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/07/2023 (808 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A Logan Avenue convenience store employee was left with life-threatening injuries when he was shot by a shoplifter in broad daylight Tuesday — a case police described as “terrifying” and “despicable.”
Winnipeg police patrol and tactical officers were sent to the Quickie Mart shop at the corner of Tecumseh Street and Logan Avenue at about 11:30 a.m. after the victim called 911 to report he had been shot, police said Thursday.
Officers found the 21-year-old man seriously injured on the shop’s front stoop, and paramedics rushed him to hospital in critical condition. He has since been upgraded to stable condition.
Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said, “He’s very seriously injured.”
Police said they used video surveillance to determine a suspect had gone into the store, picked up a drink and left without paying.
The victim went outside to tell the thief off, and the man pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and shot the employee from “very close range” on the sidewalk before running away, police said.
“I understand the gun was concealed, and when he was confronted by the employee… he was walking away, and he literally just spun around, pulled the gun out and shot him right in the abdomen,” McKinnon said.
“He had no other recourse in his mind than to just turn around and shoot the man — for a drink.”
The spokeswoman said the shooting is deeply concerning to police and must be “so concerning” to shop owners and the wider public.
“If we’re at the state of this type of violence over a drink, we’re in big trouble,” McKinnon said. “It’s just despicable, it’s terrifying… this is just a tragedy. It’s absolutely tragic.”
She added that she did not want to criticize the victim, who she said was just doing his job at an independent neighbourhood shop, but she emphasized that it is not worth it for an employee to put themselves in harm’s way.
“These incidents seem to be increasing, and without victim blaming or shaming, because nobody deserves this, it’s just maybe a reminder to just let bygones be bygones — you can contact the police, especially if you have video,” McKinnon said.
Major crimes officers tracked a suspect to a hotel suite on the 800 block of Main Street and arrested him at about 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
Dakota Raven Lee Bruyere, 22, of Winnipeg, is charged with attempted murder, armed robbery using a firearm, three other firearms offences and carrying a concealed weapon. He remains in custody.
McKinnon said the attempted murder charge, which was decided on after consultation with Crown prosecutors, was laid because of the “totality of the circumstances,” including where the victim was shot and from how close.
Bruyere has one prior adult conviction, for being unlawfully at large. He was sentenced in April 2020 to 53 days behind bars, court records show.
A few other charges are still before the courts: uttering threats and mischief from Jan. 28, an assault from June 12, and another assault July 2, all allegedly committed this year.
— with files from Dean Pritchard
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik.
Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
History
Updated on Thursday, July 27, 2023 4:01 PM CDT: Writethru