Fatal stabbing city’s 11th homicide of year

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This article was published 03/05/2023 (909 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One man is dead and another in hospital after a stabbing attack in North Point Douglas early Tuesday.

Winnipeg Police Service patrol officers were called to the 100 block of Austin Street North, between Sutherland and Jarvis avenues, at about 1:15 a.m. for a reported “stabbing incident,” police said Wednesday.

They found two men suffering from stab wounds. Both were transported to hospital: one in critical condition; the other, a 38-year-old, in unstable condition later upgraded to stable.

Kevin James Wescoupe, 41, died in hospital, police said.

Donna Koss, 61, lives on Austin Street North and knew the deceased, who used to live across the street with his common-law partner.

Koss said Wescoupe and his partner, who recently had a child, were at the Austin Street North home where he was fatally injured for a visit, as his mother-in-law was watching the house while a former neighbour was out-of-province.

Wescoupe — who she described as a “teddy bear” — and the other victim had just returned from the nearby Northern Hotel bar when a car pulled up behind the house, Koss said.

“(They) jumped them in the back and stabbed him. Kevin came in the house, and he was grey, and he fell on the living room floor,” Koss said she was told when speaking with a sister of Wescoupe’s partner, who witnessed the melee.

“The other guy, he ran through the house and made it outside… He said, ‘Call an ambulance, we’ve been stabbed.’”

Koss said Wescoupe’s partner reportedly ran upstairs with their baby, as the chaos unfolded and the assailants fled the scene in the vehicle.

“It’s just a freak thing that happened — not sure who these guys were,” Koss said, adding Wescoupe was a nice person who didn’t get into altercations.

“He wouldn’t hurt a soul, and this is what happens. This is crazy,” the former neighbour said. “A quiet, laid-back guy — very good dad, a good boyfriend, as far as I know… there was no problem with him. I was pretty surprised.”

Police, including forensics officers, remained on location for most of the day Tuesday, before they removed caution tape in the evening.

Little evidence of a crime scene remained Wednesday, apart from a small piece of yellow caution tape knotted to a wrought-iron fence next to the home where the stabbings occurred.

Koss said the slaying has shaken her.

“I’m standing out here, watching, is it going to happen again?” she said. “It was pretty scary. Normally, it’s pretty quiet here, it’s pretty calm.”

However, Koss said she won’t allow her three grandchildren, who live with her, outside their house at night.

Another nearby resident, Joanne Smith, 43, said she moved to Austin Street North in April, and found the killing “nerve-wracking.”

“It doesn’t make you feel very safe,” said Smith. “It’s pretty scary… I’ve never seen this happen.”

Homicide detectives had made no arrests as of Wednesday morning. WPS spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said he wasn’t able to release further details of the slaying.

Wescoupe’s death marks the 11th homicide in Winnipeg this year.

Police have asked anyone with information or possible surveillance footage to call 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.

erik.pindera@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @erik_pindera