Police search for suspect in random Wolseley sex assault

Winnipeg police are looking for a male suspect after a woman reported being sexually assaulted and robbed at random in Wolseley.

The incident happened near Canora Street and Picardy Place, close to Vimy Ridge Park, at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

The woman told police she walked southbound on Toronto Street and crossed Portage Avenue, near Picardy, when she was grabbed by a shirtless stranger.

He threatened to harm her if she screamed, and pulled her into an alcove where he choked, sexually assaulted and robbed her.

“It’s extremely important that this individual is identified quickly and that nobody else is put in harm’s way,” said Const. Dani McKinnon of the Winnipeg Police Service, noting the attack was an “isolated circumstance.”

“This was a random, very serious attack.”

It’s an attack that Kirsty Tholl may have captured on her home security camera, saying she “absolutely” will turn the footage over to police.

“Unfortunately, it’s par for the course for this area,” she said, noting she got the camera after break-ins and another serious assault in 2023 where a woman in her 40s was attacked while getting in her car.

“It doesn’t show the whole thing,” she said of the video, “but at least it shows some of it, which they can definitely use.”

In a series of video clips viewed by the Free Press, a man can be seen following a woman down Portage Avenue at 10:34 p.m.

The man and woman are then seen in a back lane and the woman appears to be moving away from him. The woman struggles to free herself, but the man follows her and pulls at her arm. The woman making several more attempts to get away from him, but he continues to grab at her and appears to refuse to let go.

McKinnon said the suspect ran away after the attack, and the woman was able to get to safety and call police. She said officers have been canvassing the area for information and surveillance footage.

“People like to go from ‘A to B’ and take the quickest route and that often means cutting through yards and parking lots,” she said.

While watching the video, Tholl, who does shift work, said she wasn’t surprised such an incident would happen in the area.

“I sometimes come home at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m., in the morning and there’s some sketchy-looking people wandering around even then.”

Morgan Blanco, who lives in the Wolseley area with her wife, said Sunday’s attack wasn’t the first for the area.

“We do often hear yelling and screaming in this neighbourhood, but this was a little different,” she said of an incident a few weeks ago. “You could feel it in the pit of your stomach that someone really needed help.”

When Blanco went to investigate, she saw a man dressed in black emerge from a set of bushes near First Presbyterian Church and run away through nearby Vimy Ridge Park. A young woman appeared out of the bushes and said she’d been attacked.

“She didn’t want to call the police,” she said, but they helped the woman as best they could, getting her to a friend’s place.

Kristina Robert, another neighbour, said she generally feels safe in the neighbourhood.

“There have been times when I’ve walked through (Vimy Ridge) Park, which I love and where I was like: ‘Oh those people seem shady, I’m going to get jumped, maybe I got to move,’ but that was like twice in one summer,” Roberts said, noting she’s also lived in the West End and Point Douglas.

“It’s not like I’m living in a small town,” she said. “I hear sirens all the time because Broadway and Portage are right there… we’re not far from downtown.”

All of the residents who spoke to the Free Press said they’d like to see a larger police presence in the area.

Police said they are searching for a man in his 30s who has a heavy build and is about six feet tall. He had short, spiky hair that was dark in colour.

The man was wearing black shorts and black shoes, police said.

The sex crimes unit asked anyone with information or surveillance video to call investigators at 204-986-6245 or Crime Stoppers anonymously 204-786-8477 (TIPS). Call 911 if it is an emergency, police said.

morgan.modjeski@freepress.mb.ca