Four boys linked to Remembrance Day mob mayhem charged in slaying

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This article was published 27/12/2023 (622 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four boys are in custody and two more are being sought after a 27-year-old man was killed outside a Winnipeg beer vendor during a spree of random attacks on Remembrance Day.

Announced Wednesday, the manslaughter arrests in the stabbing death of Peter Filip highlight ongoing concerns about unprovoked violence and youth crime in the city.

“I think we’ve seen, especially during the last year, a lot of individuals that are aged sometimes 14, 15, 16, 17 — not adults — involved in very serious crimes,” said Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Claude Chancy. “We’ve seen that more and more often during incidents this year. It’s definitely something we are concerned about.”

Chancy said the WPS is concerned about where “the future of the youth in our city is headed,” following recent attacks that allegedly involved children.

After Filip was fatally attacked, the young suspects allegedly robbed three kids at gunpoint and tried to shoot a driver during an attempted carjacking.

Filip’s family was horrified by the level of violence against him, while also disappointed the accused teens are not facing a charge more serious than manslaughter.

“Winnipeg is changing,” said his mother, Coi Nguyen, who lived in the city before moving to Mississippi about 20 years ago. “I feel it’s not safe to go out at night.”

Before he was killed, Filip was hanging out with a friend at the apartment block where he lived and then left to get more beer, his mother said.

“He never came back,” said Nguyen.

Police said Filip was standing outside a vendor at Arlington Street and Logan Avenue in the West Alexander neighbourhood when he was confronted by a group of males at about 2 a.m. on Nov. 11.

“Winnipeg is changing … I feel it’s not safe to go out at night.”–Coi Nguyen

He was repeatedly assaulted and then stabbed and struck with a gun before the suspects ran off, the WPS said.

Officers applied a chest seal and performed CPR on Filip, who was taken to hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead.

Nguyen believes the assailants were attempting to rob her son.

“They (investigators) said that he happened to come to the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.

Born in Winnipeg, Filip was a boy when he moved to Mississippi to live with his mother and sister. He stayed there through his high school years, and in 2016 returned to Winnipeg, where his father resides.

“He was very much loved by everyone,” said Nguyen.

Filip loved to hang out with his sister, cook and listen to music, according to an obituary. He enjoyed travelling and worked various jobs in retail stores, restaurants and home renovations, his mother said.

While fleeing the slaying, four of the suspects allegedly assaulted and robbed three boys, aged 14 to 16, of their clothing at gunpoint.

The robbery happened near Logan and Tecumseh Street, about three blocks east of the scene of the unprovoked homicide.

One of the robbery victims was treated in hospital for an upper-body injury.

Police said the suspects fled to the Salter Street and Burrows Avenue area in the North End, where they requested a ride from a driver.

The group allegedly got into the 28-year-old man’s vehicle, pulled out a knife and physically assaulted him.

One of the suspects tried to shoot the man, but the gun misfired, said police.

During a failed carjacking attempt, the victim managed to disarm a suspect who was wielding a sawed-off rifle, retake control of his vehicle and escape to the downtown police headquarters for help.

The man suffered an upper-body injury, but did not require medical attention, the WPS said.

Investigators linked the incidents and identified six male suspects all under the age of 18.

Between Dec. 11 and 20, police arrested two 14-year-old boys, a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy. They were charged with manslaughter and held in custody.

Chancy said the manslaughter charge was authorized following a consultation with Manitoba Justice.

Additional charges are anticipated as the investigation continues, said police.

Officers are looking for two more boys — one age 14 and the other 15.

The suspects’ names cannot be released under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

While she hopes for justice and no bail while the suspects face charges, Filip’s mother said no sentence will be sufficient for what happened to her son.

Under the YCJA, the maximum sentence for a youth convicted of manslaughter is three years. Part of that time is spent in custody. The remainder is under conditional supervision in the community.

Nguyen was disturbed by the suspects’ young ages.

“Parents have to be responsible for that, and who are the parents?” she said.

Police are asking anyone with information about the incidents to call the homicide unit at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).

Winnipeg has recorded 41 homicides this year. Three people under 18 are among the victims. Charges were laid against one or more youths in at least nine homicides.

Advocates and outreach workers expressed concerns about a lack of social supports for youths, after a 14-year-old girl was fatally stabbed near Graham Avenue and Fort Street on Dec. 15. A 17-year-old boy is charged with second-degree murder.

Multiple people have been killed in random attacks in Winnipeg this year, drawing more concern from police.

Chancy said a homicide can involve a range of factors, including “social aspects” that need to be addressed.

On Dec. 20, a 46-year-old Ukrainian refugee, Ivan Rubanik, was fatally stabbed at Watt Street and Talbot Avenue in Elmwood, while he was walking to work at Westward Industries.

The attack was unprovoked, said police, who charged Ethan Gladu, 19, with second-degree murder.

A GoFundMe page set up to support Rubanik’s widow and two children raised almost $90,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca