Kenora man arrested in bus stop machete attack

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/02/2023 (935 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who was randomly attacked with a machete after getting off a bus in St. James last week nearly had his leg severed at the knee and might have to have it amputated, the Free Press has learned.

Winnipeg police have charged an 18-year-old man with the Feb. 9 assault at Ness Avenue and Mount Royal Road.

The 52-year-old victim and a man got off a Winnipeg Transit bus around 1:30 p.m. The victim was slashed with a machete seemingly at random, once in the upper body and a second time in the leg.

A police source described the man’s wound as a “significant, life-altering injury” that was “near amputation.”

The source said doctors don’t know whether the man’s leg has to be amputated or if they can reconstruct his knee. He underwent surgery after being taken to hospital.

On Tuesday, officers arrested a suspect in the West Alexander area and seized a knife and machete.

Cintiro Jeremy Loon, 18 of Kenora, Ont., has been charged with aggravated assault, three counts of possession of a weapon and two counts of fail to comply with a probation order. He has been detained in custody.

Court records show Loon has no criminal convictions in Manitoba.

The police source said the accused was arrested as he went to an appointment with his probation officer related to a court order, issued from Ontario, that stipulated he is banned from possessing weapons.

The suspect told officers he mistook the victim as someone who had been bothering him, the source said.

Chris Scott, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, said last week that repeated violence on buses and at bus stops reinforces the union’s call for increased security measures.

“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.

Mayor Scott Gillingham has promised $5 million for a transit safety team in the city’s proposed budget that was tabled last week, but no details or a time for implementation were provided.

Last week’s machete crime was captured by a surveillance camera at the rear of Brian McKenzie’s property.

Four people exited a bus directly across the street from Ness Auto Service, McKenzie said. There was “a bit of a discrepancy” between two men before one pulled out and swung the machete.

The attacker swung the weapon a second time as the victim fell into the snow, McKenzie said.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Head Start

Weekday Mornings

A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day.

Sign up for Head Start

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

The attacker fled down Mount Royal.

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,’” McKenzie 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.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.