Homicide victim fifth person in a row to die from gunshot

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This article was published 15/09/2023 (770 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man shot dead in his Mulvey Avenue basement apartment Wednesday was the fifth person to be slain by gunfire in Winnipeg since early August.

Police were called to the apartment at the corner of Mulvey Avenue and Hugo Street North in Fort Rouge at about 11:10 p.m. Wednesday, where they found Damion Wayne Skrumeda, 46, suffering from a gunshot wound.

Skrumeda died at the scene, Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen said Friday.

Homicide detectives took over the investigation, but have not yet made any arrests.

Skrumeda’s death marks the city’s 25th homicide of 2023 and the fifth in a row in which the linked weapon was a gun — a streak Michalyshen called concerning.

At least seven people have been killed with firearms in Winnipeg so far this year, a Free Press review of police data shows, while officers have seized at least 603 guns, according to a recently tabled business plan report to the Winnipeg Police Board.

Michalyshen was cautious in analyzing the spate of shooting deaths, but noted none of the five in recent weeks have been connected.

“Violent incidents like this, sometimes they do come in waves, and there’s not necessarily any rhyme or reason to it,” the spokesman said.

“We also go with streaks where there are no homicides for weeks, or maybe even months. Then, all of a sudden, our resources are subjected to numerous high-profile incidents like this.”

Police are working to combat gun crime in the city, but “unfortunately, they continue to be making their way into the community and getting into the wrong hands and they’re being used for criminal means. It is an ongoing battle for us,” Michalyshen said.

On Friday, police cars remained parked in the rear lane behind 635 Mulvey Ave., where residents said the shooting occurred in a suite in the basement.

One resident of the apartment block, who asked her name be withheld, said Skrumeda was known in the apartment as a drug dealer.

Another resident, 30-year-old Vandamme Crow, lived next door to the suite where Skrumeda was shot but said he did not know the victim or recognize his name.

Crow said he must have been sleeping at the time of the shooting, as he and a friend who was staying the night did not hear gunfire, though his friend heard shouting at one point.

Crow said he woke up and saw the police in the building next to his suite and wondered what happened.

In light of the shooting, he isn’t frightened or concerned for his own safety.

“I’ll be OK,” said Crow.

Crow’s long-time foster mother, 70-year-old Suzanne Trudeau, who had gone grocery shopping with Crow on Friday, said forensics police were working inside the building when she arrived to pick Crow up on Thursday.

“I’d be scared,” she said.

Trudeau said Crow’s been unlucky — a person was killed at his last apartment on Main Street and Dufferin Avenue about a year-and-a-half ago.

Police have asked anyone with information about the shooting of Skrumeda, including possible video surveillance or who knew the people involved, to call homicide detectives at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca