Teen dies after stabbing; younger boy charged

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This article was published 23/06/2023 (808 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Police have charged a 14-year-old with second-degree murder after an older boy who was stabbed while protecting his family members from a mob of youths outside a downtown concert died of his injuries.

The 17-year-old victim, whose name has not been released publicly, died Wednesday, the Winnipeg Police Service said late Friday morning.

The boy’s father previously told the Free Press the stabbing occurred after the victim intervened to protect his sister, stepsister and mother after American rapper A Boogie wit da Hoodie’s concert at Canada Life Centre let out at around 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

The dad said a group of teens began insulting the victim’s sister near Fort Street and Graham Avenue.

The group of concertgoers, which included the victim’s pregnant 18-year-old girlfriend, told off the teens — saying they were just heading home and not bothering anyone — before the attack on his 15-year-old daughter, the dad said earlier this week.

That devolved into a brawl, with more than 10 teenage girls and boys attacking the group leaving the concert. The victim intervened but was stabbed multiple times in the stomach, heart and lung.

“My son went in and started smashing them… but he now became the main threat and they pulled out the knife,” said the dad.

A passing nursing student began first aid as the teens scattered, the father said, before police officers ran up and stepped in to perform CPR.

A police source previously described the boy’s wounds as potentially fatal, with investigators learning he was likely left brain dead. The father said the victim’s heart stopped multiple times before his death, though hospital workers, police and paramedics worked hard to keep him alive.

The father, who asked his name be withheld out of concern for retaliation against his family, said earlier this week that his son worked full time at a local restaurant, taking on more hours in preparation for the birth of his child.

The dad said his son was an accomplished boxer who didn’t get into trouble.

Police’s major crimes unit initially took on the investigation before the victim’s death in hospital after multiple surgeries.

Homicide investigators took over and arrested a 14-year-old boy, who has been charged with second-degree murder. He remains in custody.

A 15-year-old girl will be charged with two counts of assault with a weapon but has been released pending formal charges being laid in court, police said. The boy is not believed to have attended the concert.

The 14-year-old is the third youth to have been charged in a homicide this year.

The 17-year-old’s death is Winnipeg’s 16th slaying of the year.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera