‘I hope they get justice’: arrest of four young suspects follows death of third victim in 2022 attacks By: Chris Kitching Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 11, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/04/2023 (879 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Loved ones of two people killed in a series of random assaults in Winnipeg last summer are hoping for justice, after a third victim has died from injuries suffered in the attacks.

Troy Baguley, Danielle Ballantyne and Marvin Felix, who used a wheelchair after having a leg amputated, were found within hours of each other in the city’s Point Douglas neighbourhood Aug. 22, 2022.

“I broke down when I saw that (news) that the third victim died,” said Felix’s sister, Marva George. “I feel sorry for the other people who got hurt and who died.

“I hope they get justice. I hope (the suspects) do time and learn not to do stuff like that to other people, and get help for themselves.”

For Ballantyne’s son, Nick, life has been “up and down” since she was slain. He wants his mother’s killers to be held accountable for the pain inflicted on his family and other families.

“Those (suspects) should go to jail for quite a long time,” he said.

A justice source told the Free Press the assaults involved extremely prolonged “curb stompings,” with one lasting about seven to eight minutes.

One of the victims was pulled out of his wheelchair, the source said.

On April 7, city police announced Baguley, 51, who suffered life-altering injuries, had died March 3, leading to four arrests.

Tristan Colten Moose, 21, and three boys, ages 16, 15 and 14, have been charged with second-degree murder.

Moose was arrested at Headingley Correctional Centre on March 21. Posts on a Facebook page in his name refer to being in custody in Headingley on a second-degree murder charge.

He was already in custody, after being arrested Feb. 16 on a warrant for an alleged 2022 robbery.

The two eldest teens were arrested at the Manitoba Youth Centre, while the younger boy was arrested at his home April 5.

 

Police previously charged the 15-year-old and 16-year-old, who was 15 at the time of the attacks, with first-degree murder in Ballantyne’s death and second-degree murder in the killing of Felix.

All four were held in custody.

Further arrests are not anticipated by the homicide unit, according to police, who said the victims and suspects didn’t know each other.

The case would meet the “strictest definition” of serial killings, with two or more victims at separate times and places, and three victims as per the FBI’s mandate, said Michael Arntfield, a criminologist and professor at Western University in London, Ont.

“Though not in the traditional sense, in terms of the lack of meaningful interval between the crimes.”

Before 2006, the case would have been characterized as a “spree” killing, but homicide scholars and criminologists have generally sought to phase out the term, said Arntfield.

Ballantyne, a 36-year-old mother, was found dead inside an apartment on the 100 block of Jarvis Avenue, at about 7 a.m. Aug. 22, 2022.

Lisa Howardson, a friend of Ballantyne, was saddened to learn of the latest death linked to last year’s events. She’s hoping for justice for the victims of the “senseless” killings: “Hopefully, there will be some kind of light at the end of this tunnel.”

If convicted, she wants the youth suspects to be sentenced as adults.

“There are a lot of lives that were taken from a lot of families,” said Howardson.

Baguley, Felix and a man in his 50s, who survived with less serious injuries, were found in the 2 1/2 hours before Ballantyne was discovered.

Baguley was in a parking lot on the 800 block of Main Street. His death will be included in the city’s 2023 homicide total, said police.

It brings this year’s total to nine, after a record 53 homicides in 2022.

Felix, 54, was in critical condition in hospital after he was found in a lane behind a hotel on the 600 block of Main Street. He died four days later, after life support was removed.

“The doctors said there was no hope for him because of the way he was beaten up,” said George, who was among the family members who travelled from Berens River First Nation to be at his bedside.

Seeing her brother in a hospital bed with head and other injuries has left her traumatized.

“I can’t sleep at night,” said George. “I do lots of thinking about him and why that happened. Why him? He never harmed anybody. He was innocent.”

She said Felix was quiet and well-liked. He enjoyed cooking and baking inside his North End apartment suite, and hanging out with friends at benches close to where he was attacked.

The killings and a year-to-year increase in the number of youth charged in homicides has alarmed outreach workers.

“It breaks my heart,” said community activist Mitch Bourbonniere. “It’s so sad on so many levels. This kind of thing has been going on for decades, and we’re not getting it.

“It breaks my heart. It’s so sad on so many levels. This kind of thing has been going on for decades, and we’re not getting it.”–Mitch Bourbonniere

“We’re not doing something right for this to continue.”

Four youth were charged in homicides in 2021, according to the Winnipeg Police Service’s latest annual report. About a dozen were charged in 2022.

The number of youth suspects in violent crimes reported to the WPS has declined since 2016, police figures show.

In 2021, a total of 652 youth — 16 per cent lower than the five-year average — were charged, arrested and not charged, or warned following a violent incident.

The 352 youth who were charged represented 15 per cent of all suspects in violent crimes in the city, according to the Winnipeg Police Service’s latest annual report.

Data for 2022 is not yet available.

In the Point Douglas attacks, at least one of the victims (Ballantyne) had experienced homelessness.

“As a society, we must make a greater effort to identify who’s at risk and to provide mentorship.”–Mitch Bourbonniere

For unsheltered people, the assaults reaffirmed how vulnerable they are, said Bourbonniere, who provides outreach during his regular walks through the city’s core. “There was a real worry and sadness in that community.”

Bourbonniere also works with organizations to provide support and intervention for at-risk youth.

“Every young person, especially every at-risk young person, should be known to some positive, healthy adult, whether it’s a family member, a teacher, a coach or a mentor,” said Bourbonniere. “As a society, we must make a greater effort to identify who’s at risk and to provide mentorship.”

For every heartbreaking example, there are success stories that go unmentioned.

“There are lots of young people doing really well, who’ve turned their lives around,” said Bourbonniere. “And there are lots of adults doing the work.”

— with files from Dean Pritchard and Erik Pindera

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching