Friends mourn city homicide victim

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This article was published 12/01/2009 (6122 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Friends of 26-year-old Winnipegger Shawn Beauchamp, the city’s first homicide victim of the year, are worried police won’t find his killer.

Beauchamp was shot to death in the St. John’s neighbourhood of the North End early Sunday morning.

A tribute was set up on Facebook, the popular networking site, in his honour. On the tribute site, friends tried to figure out how Beauchamp died and why police don’t have suspects.

"The cops have no leads into who shot him, it is being described as gang violence," said a friend who set up the tribute site. "He was my sister’s love and my niece Trina’s favorite. He will be missed by all who knew him."

Police responded to the area of Charles Street and St. John’s Avenue shortly after 2 a.m. after reports of shots being fired, and found a man lying outside with a gunshot wound to his lower body.

The man was taken to hospital in critical condition. He later died, a Winnipeg police spokesperson said.

Police later identified Beauchamp as the victim. His death is being treated as a homicide.

Police taped off a wide area around the intersection of St. John’s Avenue and Charles Street Sunday morning as investigators combed over the streets and snowbanks for clues.

One area resident reported hearing loud noises during the night, but didn’t venture outside.

"All I heard was shots, but I didn’t know that they were shots," said the resident, who asked not to be named.

She said most people living in the area are "homeowners, decent folk," but believes crime in the neighbourhood has gotten worse in the last few years. One of her neighbours said the street itself is quiet, and suggested the homicide had nothing to do with the neighbourhood.

Police took the rare step of releasing Beauchamp’s name only nine hours after his shooting was first reported. CTV reported he was a gang associate.

Anyone with more information about the killing is urged to call police investigators at 986-6508 or CrimeStoppers at 786-TIPS (8477).

 

lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca