Man dies after being shot by police

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/01/2024 (621 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police shot and killed a 19-year-old in Fort Richmond Sunday afternoon, the latest deadly use of force by officers in less than one week.

Officers responded to a call from someone inside an apartment suite on University Crescent around 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth told reporters Monday.

The caller told police a man was armed and acting erratically.

Two officers went to the apartment building and, upon their arrival, found a 19-year-old man wielding two knives inside the suite.

“Our officers, moments later, were involved in a use-of-force encounter that resulted in the male being shot by one of our officers,” Smyth told reporters at a Monday news conference.

The man was rushed to hospital but died of his injuries.

Smyth said the suspect, a 19-year-old man, was in the suite with a 21-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman at the time of the incident. The three were known to each other, the chief said.

The other two were not injured.

Smyth said although the suspect was previously known to police — including an encounter last July in which police gave the suspect a ride — he has no criminal record. Police did not release the name of the man Monday.

It remains unclear why the three were in the suite, or what they were doing at the time of the incident. The police chief said they believe the suspect was a student at the University of Manitoba.

“As soon as there’s a death involved, you kind of put the brakes on investigating it. It’s not our jurisdiction, so we preserve the scene, preserve the witnesses and notify (the Independent Investigation Unit),” Smyth said.

The deadly incident marks the second time police have shot an and killed a suspect since Thursday. On Friday police announced the death of a 52-year-old man, who was they say was holding a 19-year-old woman hostage when he was shot multiple times in a Manitoba Housing complex at 25 Furby St. late Thursday afternoon.

The man may also be linked to the killing of 34-year-old Farah Mohamud, a truck driver from Delta, B.C., whose body was discovered on Boxing Day in a suite on the fifth floor of the same apartment complex.

Smyth said the Sunday incident did not appear to be a hostage situation.

“Very different events, very different circumstances for both of them. Clearly, they’re not related but we go to thousands of calls every week and we just deal with what we have,” Smyth said Monday.

Police had no updates on the Furby St. shooting investigation as of Monday afternoon.

Both incidents are being investigated by the IIU, the province’s police watchdog agency.

— with files from Erik Pindera

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca