Two young girls shot in Victor Street home

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This article was published 27/05/2010 (5617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two young girls are in hospital in stable condition after a supper-hour shooting in the West End Wednesday.

Winnipeg police were called to the 500 block of Victor Street after bullets were fired into the main-floor front window of a house shortly after 6 p.m.

Const. Jason Michalyshen said a 10-year-old girl was shot in the leg, while an eight-year-old suffered superficial injuries to her upper body after being hit by an apparent ricochet.

Sources said the ricochet narrowly missed the eight-year-old’s head. A third person, a teenager, was also home, but was not injured. The victims are in stable condition.

Michalyshen said it appeared the incident is not related to another shooting Tuesday on Toronto Street, just one block away, where a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed.

Officers were able to quickly get to the Victor Street shooting because a number of them were still at the Toronto Street crime scene.

"Right now, we’re not connecting these two incidents," Michalyshen said. "We have our hands full with a number of incidents. We’re shocked at each and every incident that occurs in this area."

Michalyshen said police officers were interviewing witnesses, but they had yet to identify a suspect. Officers also combed a vacant lot and the boulevard for evidence.

He said the Victor Street home is known to police, but there were no indications the incident was related to drugs or gangs.

Michalyshen said Winnipeg police were formulating a plan to combat the recent upswing in violence in the neighbourhood, including increasing the presence of cruisers and officers in the area.

One Victor Street resident said police had deployed its tactical unit shortly after the shots were fired.

"There were eight or nine of them carrying what looked like machine guns. They were standing around and then all of a sudden they started running like crazy," said Bill, who asked that his last name not be published.

Bill said he has lived on and around Victor Street for 24 years and it’s never been as unsafe as it is today.

"The neighbourhood is going down the tubes. At night, I would never walk down the street. Now you can’t even walk down the street during the day because you might get shot."

Another Victor Street resident said she is scared for the well-being of her eight children.

"My kids like to go to the parks around here. It’s scary. I don’t know what’s wrong with this area. I moved here three years ago from the North End. It’s safer there," said Cindy, who declined to provide her last name.

 

— Staff