Transit passenger attacked with machete by fellow rider

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This article was published 10/02/2023 (987 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Calls are growing for security on Winnipeg Transit buses after another vicious attack on a passenger.

Winnipeg police said Friday they are searching for a suspect after a bus passenger was attacked with a machete by another rider around the intersection of Ness Avenue and Mount Royal Road around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

Police said the 50-year-old victim and suspect had both got off a Winnipeg Transit bus at the intersection. The suspect followed the victim and struck him in the lower body with a machete.

“I can’t say where it was on the body other than lower body,” police spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said.

“It wasn’t minor. It was serious enough it needed surgery and perhaps further implications.”

The suspect fled before police arrived.

Chancy said investigators are holding back the gender of the suspect and any identifying features at this time.

“The investigators are well on the way in this investigation,” Chancy said.

Investigators believe the attack was random and unprovoked.

Chris Scott, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, said continued violence such as Thursday’s incident reinforces the union’s call for security.

“Although the assault itself did not take place on the bus, it does not change the fact that a weapon was brought onto the bus, which put everybody on the bus in a potentially very dangerous situation,” said Scott.

Brian McKenzie said the crime was captured by a surveillance camera at the rear of his property.

Four people had got off a bus directly across the street from Ness Auto Service, McKenzie said. There was “a bit of a discrepancy” between two males before one pulled a machete and took a swing.

The victim fell into the snow; the attacker swung again before running down Mount Royal Road, McKenzie said.

A customer alerted McKenzie about the incident soon after it happened.

“I went ‘What? In broad daylight, in St. James, right now? That doesn’t make any sense,’” he said. “Where was he going to run? There’s a field right there. It’s not like he can run into a mall and hide somewhere.”

Around 3 p.m. Friday, there was a patch of blood in the snow steps from the westbound Ness at Mount Royal bus stop.

First responders had arrived quickly, McKenzie said, adding he saw the wounded man get help while a police car darted down Mount Royal.

Mayor Scott Gillingham promised $5 million for a “transit safety team initiative” in the city’s proposed budget, tabled Wednesday, but no details were provided on when it would become a reality.

Scott said bus drivers and passengers can no longer wait as violent incidents skyrocket.

“I understand there is a (budget) process, but this is something that needs to be expedited,” he said. “If a security team was already in place now, it might have affected this. Maybe (the attacker) would have thought, I shouldn’t go on the bus, they have security.”

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However, Gillingham said he does not expect the new security to include armed staff. Instead, they will be trained in de-escalation techniques, have some authority to arrest people in criminal circumstances, and will collaborate with social service agencies.

Last month, Scott told the Free Press the union had received reports eight Transit workers had been assaulted since the start of the year.

No arrest have been made in Thursday’s incident. Police did not provide a description of the suspect.

Investigators are asking anyone with information about the case to call 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477 (TIPS).

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca