Two random stabbings injure three men at Polo Park

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This article was published 27/11/2024 (316 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two random stabbing incidents, one in the Polo Park mall and the other at a bus shelter across the street, sent three people to hospital Tuesday.

Crave jewelry store employee Heather Miller was working a regular weekday shift when she heard a commotion outside her shop in the mall’s eastern corridor near guest services around 3:45 p.m.

“I was helping a customer, and then there was yelling. Next thing I knew, I see one of (the victims) tackle a guy and then security came running up,” she said Wednesday. “Then one of the victims said ‘I’ve got the knife. I’ve got the knife away from him.”

Police said the male victims were aged 46 and 48.

Miller said they had been sitting on a set of couches outside the store when the attack occurred. She saw blood on them and the suspect after police and security ended the altercation.

Officers who were sent to Polo Park found the suspect being restrained by mall security personnel and the victims, the Winnipeg Police Service said.

Investigators learned a suspect had approached and confronted the victims before pulling out a knife. Both victims were stabbed in the “upper body” during the altercation, police said.

Two knives were seized.

The attack is believed to be random and the victims and suspect did not know each other, Const. Claude Chancy said Wednesday.

Both victims were taken to hospital in stable condition.

A 20-year-old Winnipeg man faces two counts each of assault and failing to comply with conditions of release order, and a single count of possession of a weapon. He was released on an undertaking as mandated by the Criminal Code, police said.

Tehya Bolduc, who works at L’Occitane En Provence, which is upstairs from where the stabbing attack occurred, saw police and paramedics in the area and later yellow tape was put up to cordon off the eastern corridor of the mall.

“The city has just been kind of weird in general, so I guess I just have an overall feeling of just being more aware,” she said. “I tell my employees to just be careful, and if there’s anyone odd in here, I’ll just tell them to just leave the store.”

The mall was bustling with shoppers Wednesday afternoon as security guards were seen periodically walking around the mall.

Hours later, a 19-year-old man was stabbed at a bus shelter at the southwest corner of Portage Avenue and Tylehurst Street, across the street from the mall’s main entrance. Police were called around 10:30 p.m. and found a 19-year-old man suffering from serious “upper body” injuries.

Officers gave the man emergency medical care, including the application of a chest seal. He was taken to hospital in unstable condition and later upgraded to stable.

Officers, including members of the canine unit and tactical support team, searched the area as witnesses pointed out where the suspects were headed. Two suspects were found hiding under a structure on the 1500 block of Wolseley Avenue West.

Adrian Eliazer Murdock, 24, and Kay-Lei Margaret Fontaine, 30, were charged with three offences, including possession of a weapon. Murdock is charged with assault causing bodily harm and breach of probation, while Fontaine is charged with possession of a controlled substance and failing to comply with a probation order.

Court records show the accused have convictions for robbery and weapon-related offences. They were detained in custody.

Miller said the attacks don’t faze her given other incidents at the mall in recent years.

In January, a 15-year-old boy was robbed and stabbed in Polo Park, sending him to hospital in unstable condition. It marked the third time in nine months that a youth had been the victim of an armed robbery in the city’s largest mall.

CF Polo Park did not respond to requests for comment.

Chancy recommended shoppers remain aware of their surroundings and report suspicious activity to police.

“Just the fact that there’s going to be a lot more patrons, not only in malls, in shopping centres or stand-alone stores, that does help kind of almost serve as a deterrent to people that are looking to commit these crimes on unsuspecting people,” he said.

Miller said security at the mall increases on weekends and during the holiday season. If an incident happens, her store’s protocol is to escort customers out, lock the doors and call security.

— with files from Malak Abas and Dean Pritchard

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca