Random violence targets another newcomer as Ukrainian refugee shot in eye with pellet during robbery

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/01/2024 (624 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Violent Winnipeg street crime has victimized a third Ukrainian refugee in the past 18 months, leaving a man with a potentially life-altering eye injury after he was shot with a pellet gun during a robbery Tuesday evening.

Police said the man and his wife, newcomers from the war-torn eastern European nation, were robbed of their groceries while waiting at a bus stop at Burrows and Gilbert avenues.

Two youths armed with a handgun-style airgun demanded the couple’s groceries and, after a struggle, the man was shot in the face with the C02-powered airgun, police said.

The incident was described as a crime of opportunity that quickly escalated into violence.

“This was very random,” Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Dani McKinnon said Wednesday. “The victims were taken aback.”

The couple were heading home after work and grocery-shopping when they were targeted.

The suspects — two boys, age 14 and 17 — were tracked down and arrested in the 1600 block of Burrows Avenue shortly after midnight Wednesday. They are in custody and face several charges, including robbery and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

“This is a very traumatic situation… this is just not what they would have expected.” – Const. Dani McKinnon

Both are known to police, McKinnon said, adding the shooting victim’s wife was “extremely shaken up.”

“This is a very traumatic situation… this is just not what they would have expected,” she said.

The manager of a local business nearby, who asked not to be named, said she heard what sounded like fireworks Tuesday night while stocking the shelves of her shop.

“I looked at the security cameras but I didn’t see any fireworks, so I thought it could have been gunshots,” she said.

Related Articles

Man pleads guilty in Canada Day stabbing

‘No rhyme or reason’: Ukrainian refugee slain in Elmwood random attack

Ukrainian refugees plan to flee city after life-threatening attack at The Forks

Attack on Ukrainian refugee puts The Forks safety in spotlight

Refugee Ukrainian boy beaten unconscious with bat, mother hurt in random robbery 'Running from one traumatization to another': Support groups educating refugees after violence on city streets

Newcomer assaulted in attempted robbery Four-year sentence for vicious attack on Ukrainian refugee

She was saddened to learn the victims were newcomers from Ukraine.

“As if they haven’t been through enough already,” she said.

Joanne Lewandosky, president of the Manitoba chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, was shocked at the news of the midnight attack.

“These people are being traumatized coming from a war. They chose to come to Manitoba because they felt it was a safe haven and this is the answer they get?” she said.

“It’s getting to the point that Winnipeg does not got a safe reputation.”

In December, 46-year-old Ivan Rubanik died after being stabbed by a stranger in a random attack at Watt Street and Talbot Avenue while walking to work.

“It’s getting to the point that Winnipeg does not got a safe reputation.”–Joanne Lewandosky

Rubanik and his family had moved to Winnipeg about eight months ago, escaping a war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

A GoFundMe page set up in support of Rubanik’s wife and children raised more than $108,000 as of Wednesday.

Ethan Richard Gladu, 19, is charged with second-degree murder. He was free on bail, charged with assault and weapons offences when Rubanik was attacked.

On Canada Day in 2022, two men who had just fled Ukraine were attacked while walking near the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

The pair had accidentally bumped into a group of three men they did not know. Despite apologizing, one man was stabbed in the neck, and the other pepper-sprayed.

Jayden Kyle Martin and Tyson Cole Bechard pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in connection with the incident. The duo await sentencing.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.