Police investigate ‘suspicious death’

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Police are investigating after finding the body of a 20-year-old in the city’s North End Saturday afternoon.

Officers were called to Flora Avenue around 3 p.m. with reports of “suspicious circumstances,” WPS spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said at a Monday news conference.

Once there, officers found the body of Brooklynn Elijah Hiebert in the back alley between Flora and Selkirk Avenue behind St. Kateri Tekakwitha Aboriginal Catholic Church.

“We are asking if anybody has had any recent interactions with him at all. He was not reported as a missing person. But he did not stay in permanent residence,” McKinnon said.

If shown to be a homicide, this would be the 42nd in 2023, and the 14th since Nov. 1.

“We’ve trended in that direction in terms of some of the violence that we’ve experienced. We know that, we see that through the numbers in the annual report; gun crime has gone up, edged weapon crime has gone up,” McKinnon told reporters.

“We’ve all gone through major trauma with the pandemic. We’re seeing the strain that addiction has brought, that mental health has brought. We are seeing the impact of … the number of guns that are being encountered on the street,” WPS Chief Danny Smyth added.

Police ask anyone who recently talked to Hiebert or with surveillance footage in the area to call investigators at 204-986-6219, Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS or make a report online at winnipegcrimestoppers.org.

On Monday, a forensics van and two police cruisers were on the scene at 242 Selkirk Ave. Yellow evidence markers dotted the trash-filled back yard and officers were seen monitoring the area.

Cecille Craig, who lives a few doors down from the scene, said she’s lived in the area long enough to know to avoid the multi-unit home.

“There’s always fights in the backyard,” she said, adding she’s seen evidence of drug use at the residence.

Craig said on the afternoon of the incident she was coming home from work when she saw what appeared to be a massive bloodstain in the snow of the back lane between Flora and Selkirk.

McKinnon said the victim was known to frequent the area and struggled with addiction. He had been accessing shelters and social services at the time, the constable added.

The victim did not live at the Selkirkhome at the time, McKinnon said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca