Accused in Burrows Avenue fatal shooting was on release order

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This article was published 08/12/2023 (682 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The 20-year-old man arrested in the shooting death of a young woman on Burrows Avenue last month was out on a release order at the time of the slaying.

On Wednesday, Winnipeg homicide detectives arrested Brent Jayden Meade at a home on the 500 block of College Avenue, five blocks north of where Ava Marie Zaber, 20, was shot and killed Nov. 21.

Her death marked the city’s 33rd homicide this year.

Meade was charged with second-degree murder, Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen said Friday.

The spokesman said Zaber and Meade knew each other, but were not in a domestic relationship.

“There’s a lot of information that we’re still unpacking, trying to determine what exactly took place,” said Michalyshen. “We’re working on some possibilities, with respect to what may have caused the altercation and fatality.”

Meade has few past convictions, court records show, but was pending on multiple charges from August, September and early November.

He’s accused of two counts of uttering threats and one count of break-and-enter to commit mischief, allegedly committed Aug. 6. He was granted a release order with conditions by the courts for those offences.

Meade allegedly committed mischief to property worth under $5,00o Sept. 2, before he was charged with three counts of failing to comply with the conditions of a release order Sept. 12, records show.

He was then charged with two counts of failing to attend court Nov. 6.

On Dec. 6, the day he was arrested for his alleged role in Zaber’s killing, he was charged with an additional three counts of failing to comply with a release order.

Meade was convicted of failing to comply with a probation order in November 2021, and failing to comply with a court sentence in January 2022, after he pleaded guilty in provincial court in July 2022, records show. He was fined $100 for those offences.

Zaber was shot at a home on the 400 block of Burrows Avenue in early hours of Nov. 21. Patrol officers were called to the scene at about 1:45 a.m.

The injured woman was transported to hospital in critical condition, where she died.

Later that day, forensics officers worked in and around the front yard of 451 Burrows Ave., which was cordoned off with crime scene tape, along with adjacent 447 Burrows Ave., using flashlights to peer along the fence line and in garbage and recycling bins.

Michalyshen would not reveal Friday whether detectives have recovered the suspected murder weapon. Court records show Meade has not been charged with any firearms offences.

Police are still investigating Zaber’s slaying and have asked anyone with information to call homicide detectives at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca