Murder charge in fatal stabbing

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This article was published 04/06/2015 (4136 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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A 17-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder as family and friends mourn a “loyal, caring” teen who was stabbed to death outside Kelvin High School Tuesday.

The suspect is a student at Kelvin and was arrested outside the school Tuesday following the lunch-hour stabbing of Brett Bourne, 17.

Bourne and a 16-year-old male student were fighting at around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday when the 16-year-old “disengaged,” police said. Then, a 17-year-old boy allegedly jumped in and stabbed Bourne.

Investigators believe the fight had to do with personal relationships, but did not provide more details. Bourne’s friends and fellow students have told the Free Press they believe the boys were fighting over a girl.

The 17-year-old youth was first questioned as a witness at the scene and then arrested as a suspect.

Bourne’s death was shocking, said 16-year-old Shaynna Andrew, who had known Bourne for five years and considered him an older brother, one who loved playing video games, binging on Netflix, passing around a football, partying and “typical teenage stuff.”

“This was so unnecessary. Hopefully people can take this and realize that if you kill someone, there’s going to be so many people hurt,” she said.

Andrew said she was with Bourne at his house just half an hour before he was stabbed and they made plans to hang out again over the weekend. Bourne was two days from payday at his new job, and they were looking forward to going to Moxie’s afterward. Bourne didn’t mention he’d be going to Kelvin later that day, and Andrew said his death means she’s lost a “once-in-a-lifetime friendship.”

“Brett was a very caring guy, and if I could choose one word to describe Brett, it would be loyalty. Brett was loyal to those he really did love. If he truly cared and loved you, he would do anything for you.”

She said Bourne’s mother and older brother are grieving privately.

“It’s going to take a lot of time, and that goes for all of us. Everyone is really devastated by this, and it’s going to take everyone a lot of time to get over it.”

Police don’t believe the stabbing was gang- or drug-related. Neither the victim nor the accused had any significant involvement with police, Const. Jason Michalyshen said.

“We’re talking about an incident here obviously involving relationships and some ongoing issues, and clearly an individual, based on the information that we have right now, made a very extreme decision. We’re sorting through what exactly transpired,” he said.

On Tuesday afternoon, several students described hearing a fight break out between Bourne and a student near the southeast school doors and later seeing the victim fall to the ground, badly injured. School staff “played a vital part” in helping with the investigation, Michalyshen said.

‘Everyone is really devastated by this, and it’s going to take everyone a lot of time to get over it’

— Shaynna Andrew, 16, on the stabbing death of her friend, Brett Bourne

Winnipeg School Division chairman Mark Wasyliw praised the efforts of Kelvin staff, who kept students in a “hold and secure” drill where no one entered or left the building for about two hours after the incident.

“The only way you stop violence in school is through prevention and through creating a climate that’s safe and respectful. And we’re going to continue to do that,” Wasyliw said. The school will conduct an internal investigation to see whether there should be added security measures, he said.

In recent years, school killings elsewhere have led to calls for private security guards in schools, metal detectors, even arming teachers.

Manitoba has rejected such measures, opting for inside and outside security cameras, lockdown procedures schools practise regularly, and greater monitoring and control of entrances.

A Winnipeg police school-resource officer is stationed at Kelvin, but Const. Michalyshen said Wednesday morning he didn’t know whether the officer was present at the time of the stabbing.

He said police and administrators need to have “some deep conversations” about how best to keep students safe.

“It would be too early to say for sure whether this one incident is now going to create more of a police presence at that school. It’s certainly a possibility. That would be a decision that the executive would have to make,” Michalyshen said.

Wasyliw said there are nine resource officers who take care of 77 schools in the division.

Kelvin students were quick to defend their school’s safety procedures and reputation Wednesday.

During their lunch hour Wednesday, about a dozen students clad in black gathered near the southeast doors of the school where their former classmate was fatally stabbed. They hugged and laid bouquets of flowers and handwritten notes.

One female Grade 11 student, who spoke on behalf of the group under condition of anonymity, said the Kelvin students want the public to know theirs is a school where they feel safe and where violent incidents rarely occur.

“This situation does not reflect on how we are. It was a bad situation; it shouldn’t have happened,” she said. “I chose Kelvin because (it’s) safe… I had a bullying problem in Grade 9 from (someone in) an older grade. That was an issue, but I talked with the staff and they dealt with it right away. They dealt with it in a proper, respectful kind of manner, and that’s what kind of school Kelvin is.”

Students and members of the school division said a vigil or assembly has not yet been planned to remember Bourne. The school is waiting on more information from the police before proceeding with a ceremony, Wasyliw said.

Police seized security video from Kelvin, the fourth-largest high school in Winnipeg with 1,350 students.

Ten grief counsellors are on hand at the school to help console students who want to talk. Most of the students are continuing to come to school to help each other cope, the Grade 11 girl said.

“Everyone is super-shook by it. Everyone is kind of hurt, but we’re all sticking together, and we’re all being a family,” she said. “One of our family members is gone now, and we are remembering the good times we had with him.”

In 2012, nearly 20 kids armed themselves with machetes and baseball bats in a reportedly drug-related brawl at the school that sent five to hospital. And in 2007, a machete-armed 15-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man both faced criminal charges after they fought near the school.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca jessica.botelho-urbanski@freepress.mb.ca

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