Police ask public for help after body found in garbage bin

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This article was published 31/03/2025 (221 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police have identified a 30-year-old man who was found dead in a West End back lane last week.

Police said Monday that a homicide investigation was underway into the death of Bronson Emery Dale Kequahtooway.

Two residents told the Free Press a man’s body was found in a garbage bin in an alley on the north side of Wellington Avenue, between Arlington and Home streets, shortly before 10 a.m. Friday.

“At this point, I don’t have any information to be able to talk about the motive,” said police spokesman Const. Stephen Spencer. “It’s still pretty early in this investigation.”

A man who lives in the area told the Free Press on Friday he called 911 after he found a man’s body inside a garbage bin that was tipped over in the lane.

“I went to look and opened the thing, and I saw a head,” the man said. “The body was sticking out. I was shocked. It’s better that I found it than some little kid.”

A second resident said they saw a man’s body in the bin.

The Winnipeg Police Service asked anyone with information about Kequahtooway’s death to contact the homicide unit at 204-986-6508, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477 (TIPS).

Kequahtooway, who lived in Winnipeg, was originally from Zagime Anishinabek First Nation in Saskatchewan. The community is about 140 kilometres east of Regina.

He was in and out of custody in Manitoba over the last decade, with convictions of violent offences, gun and drug possession, and failing to comply with release conditions, court records showed.

Kequahtooway was found guilty of robbery with a weapon, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace, possession of a stolen vehicle and driving while prohibited for an incident in May 2021.

He was sentenced to 36 months minus time served in pre-trial custody, leaving him a balance of 19.5 months, in April 2022.

Judge Mary-Kate Harvie noted Kequahtooway’s early life was marked by “violence, abuse, addictions and other challenges.”

That followed a one-year sentence — plus credit of about 19 months in pre-sentence custody at a ratio of 1.5 days to one — in May 2020 for possessing a prohibited firearm and ammunition without a licence. He also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving. The convictions stemmed from an August 2018 incident.

That month, city police said Kequahtooway and three other people with suspected gang ties were charged after an 18-year-old cyclist was shot near Roy Avenue and Cecil Street in Weston.

The victim and two relatives were riding bikes when a vehicle, occupied by people they didn’t know, drove in front of them and blocked their path.

Police said a person pulled out a gun and shot the man after he fell, resulting in life-altering injuries. Officers arrested four people, including Kequahtooway, and recovered a sawed-off shotgun after the vehicle fled and crashed, a news release said at the time.

— with files from Dean Pritchard

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca