Manslaughter charge in 2020 ‘road rage’ stabbing

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This article was published 12/02/2021 (1669 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg teen has been charged with manslaughter for a 2020 fatal stabbing in a city parking lot.

On Thursday, the Winnipeg Police Service arrested Rahim Ahmadzai, 19, and charged him in the slaying of 43-year-old Ryan Kelly Legary.

On Friday, police said Ahmadzai stabbed Legary to death following a “road rage” incident. He’s been detained in custody.

“The reason we chose to use that (term) — road rage — is because we figured that would actually exemplify exactly what happened during this incident. Two people who are unknown to each other having an issue with the other’s manner of driving,” said WPS spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon.

“They pull up at an intersection and, obviously, start speaking to each other through a window or using hand gestures. At which point, they escalate. They both decide to make a turn into that lot. And it escalates from there into a physical altercation.”

On July 23, 2020, Legary was stabbed to death in a parking lot shared by multiple businesses near the intersection of Lagimodiere Boulevard and Fermor Avenue.

It was the city’s 23rd homicide of the year.

McKinnon would not say what, specifically, triggered the killing. She also declined to provide details on how the investigation unfolded during the more than six months until Ahmadzai’s arrest.

“Whenever we’re investigating a file that has to do with taking another person’s life, the test and the threshold is going to be very high for laying those charges,” McKinnon said, when asked about the length of the investigation.

“We have to make sure we have all the pertinent witnesses. All the evidence, whether it’s physical or testimony, to get it in order.”

McKinnon said Ahmadzai was “known to police.” She also warned members of the public never to confront another driver in a road rage-type of situation.

“If you believe there is actually a criminal action that has taken place… You have several options: you can write their licence plate down; you can go report it at one of our stations,” McKinnon said.

“Absolutely do not confront anybody.”

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe