Woman charged after random triple stabbing at Osborne Village business

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This article was published 13/11/2023 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A woman has been charged and remains in custody after three people were injured in a random daytime stabbing spree inside an Osborne Village business.

Around 1 p.m. Sunday, city police responded to Shoppers Drug Mart at 43 Osborne St. for reports of a stabbing.

Officers arrived to find three injured people: two women, aged 57 and 30, and a 75-year-old man. All three were taken to hospital, where they were treated and remain in stable condition, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a release Monday.

Investigators learned a woman confronted by security staff had reportedly produced a knife. The woman then attempted to flee, stabbing the victims as she ran toward the exit, police said.

“The individual was approached and it sounds like quite immediately she caused a bit of a scene, began arguing and an altercation occurred,” WPS Const. Jason Michalyshen said by phone Monday. “As she was fleeing… she made contact with these three customers, who are essentially uninvolved, stabbing them.”

The police spokesperson could not confirm whether the suspect appeared to be in distress or impaired by drugs or alcohol.

“(It was) very random, and clearly there is some behaviour that is incredibly concerning,” he said. “Someone acting out to this extreme, obviously, there’s some other factors definitely involved.”

Officers began searching the area for the suspect, locating a woman near a riverbank encampment on the first 100 block of Roslyn Road around 1:30 p.m.

A 24-year-old woman has been charged with aggravated assault, assault, and two counts of assault causing bodily harm.

She remains in custody. Police did not release the suspect’s name Monday because the investigation is ongoing, Michalyshen said.

Residents in the area say riverbank encampments have long been a source of trouble and the random attack highlights concerns of rising crime in the neighbourhood.

“I look at the profiles of the victims — their ages — and it literally could have been anyone,” said one Osborne Village resident, who asked not to be named. “It just highlights the struggles people have living in this area.”

The man, who moved into the downtown neighbourhood five years ago, said he has seen the level of crime increase and the feelings of community safety deteriorate in the time since. The father of two said he is concerned for his young children and his wife has been asking him to sell their home and leave the area.

“What kind of human wants to live in this kind of environment, where you could be subject to a random variable,” he said. “I don’t know what to do anymore. It’s just a constant issue.”

Violence in the River-Osborne area has risen starkly in recent years. Between July 2022 and July 2023, the latest data available, the area logged 227 violent crimes — an 82 per cent increase compared to 2019, WPS crime statistics show.

On Monday morning, there was no evidence an attack had occurred at the Shoppers location, which was open to customers and had a single Impact Security guard stationed near its rear entrance.

The nearby encampment on Roslyn was empty. Discarded plastics, shopping carts, electronics, furniture and several trampled tents littered the area.

In a recent email exchange between the Osborne Village resident and City of Winnipeg officials, viewed by the Free Press, a spokesperson confirmed support agencies had visited the Roslyn encampment in October, and “provided the residents with food, water, socks and harm reduction supplies.”

Loblaw Companies Ltd., which owns the Shoppers Drug Mart franchise, said it could not comment on stabbings, due to the ongoing investigation.

Impact Security did not respond to requests for comment.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca