Teen girl killed in daytime stabbing on downtown street

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This article was published 16/12/2023 (714 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A teenage girl was killed in a daylight stabbing Friday in a section of downtown Winnipeg where previous attacks this year left another person dead and several others injured.

The homicide happened on the south side of Graham Avenue, just west of Fort Street and close to the Winnipeg Police Service’s headquarters, at about 1 p.m.

“This is a tragic incident. This is a teen, a girl, who lost her life in this incident,” police spokesman Const. Claude Chancy told reporters at the scene Saturday.

He said officers arrived quickly and applied a chest seal to the victim, who was taken to hospital in critical condition.

She underwent emergency surgery, but did not survive. Her name and age were not released, as family notifications continued.

Chancy said police are looking for multiple suspects who fled the scene. No one had been arrested as of Saturday afternoon.

Police wouldn’t say if the slaying was random or if the victim knew the assailants.

“At this point, that is part of the investigation. We can’t divulge that information right now,” said Chancy.

Police also wouldn’t say what led up to the stabbing, nor if the girl was alone or with one or more people.

More details will be released Monday, said Chancy, while he appealed for witnesses or people with information or video to call detectives at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.

“The homicide unit is diligently progressing with the investigation and we need to have those people to come forward to progress,” he said. “This was a busy thoroughfare for transit. A lot of people, we know, were there and had witnessed the incident.”

The slaying — Winnipeg’s 40th of 2023 — shocked people who work or commute through the area.

“I’m very sad about it. I’m very sad for the teenage girl,” said a man who works at a Tim Hortons at the southwest corner of Graham and Fort. He declined to give his name.

He said the attack took place on a sidewalk in front of the eight-storey Cargill Building.

The front and back of the office building, and part of Fort’s west sidewalk, were still taped off by police Saturday. About a dozen yellow evidence markers had been placed on the sidewalk, where officers guarded the scene.

The Tim Hortons worker said a police officer told him the weapon had a long blade.

After the stabbing, police were given surveillance video from the coffee shop and other places nearby, he said.

The Cargill Building has exterior cameras.

The man said officers asked him questions about four young people — a male and three females — who were in the shop around the time of the incident.

He said the group was sitting down, and there appeared to be an argument before the male and females left. They appeared to be in their teens.

He didn’t see the victim or suspects, following the incident.

The man was disappointed by the violence. He defended the area, even though several violent incidents have happened at or close to Graham and Fort this year.

“This area is very good,” he said. “Everywhere, it happens. The police can’t do everything. They can’t stand everywhere.”

Inner-city resident Jason Medicine said he was once randomly attacked near the intersection. He gave the same assessment of the area.

“It’s more or less quiet, unless you’re involved in different stuff,” said Medicine, while standing near a somewhat busy Winnipeg Transit bus stop just outside the police cordon.

Buses were still running on the Graham Avenue Transit Mall, despite the police presence.

In June, a 17-year-old boy, who had just left a concert, was fatally stabbed during a late-night fight near Graham and Fort. A 14-year-old boy was charged with second-degree murder, while a 15-year-old girl was charged with two counts of assault with a weapon.

Four international students from India were injured when they were randomly attacked by a stranger near the intersection in March. One of them — a 20-year-old man — was knocked unconscious and lost a tooth.

The victims attended Providence University College and Theological Seminary, which increased security at its downtown campus at Main Street and Graham.

Police charged a 22-year-old man.

At the time, police said they had seen an increase in the number of assaults reported downtown, with substance use a contributing factor in many incidents.

Charges were also laid in a pair of unprovoked robberies at the Graham and Fort bus stop in May and October.

The May incident involved a physical assault and happened at 2 p.m.

In the October incident, a group of masked people was armed with guns and knives and threatened to kill a teenage male before stealing his belongings at 7 p.m.

Police arrested a 17-year-old boy and seized a BB gun a short time later.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca