Lawsuit alleges police breached their duty of care to preserve guns

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/04/2025 (183 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man is suing the City of Winnipeg and the police service after officers allegedly destroyed some of the guns that were seized from him, rather than auctioning the weapons as ordered by a judge.

Andrew Krywonizka, 46, who is a pyrotechnician and gun collector, was charged in 2019 for improperly storing dozens of prohibited weapons and loaded firearms. He was given a conditional sentence largely consisting of house arrest in October 2021 after he pleaded guilty to six weapons offences.

Winnipeg Police Service officers seized 73 firearms, including prohibited weapons and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition, from his home in Windsor Park.

Lawyer Kevin Toyne filed a lawsuit on Krywonizka’s behalf in the Court of King’s Bench last week, naming the city and its police department as defendants. No statements of defence have been filed.

The claim says some of his guns were forfeited by the court, but provincial court Judge Mary Kate Harvie ordered others go to auction, the claim said.

An auctioneer who contacted Winnipeg police to obtain the guns was advised the weapons wouldn’t be released until the Crown’s appeal was heard, the court papers say.

The appeal was rejected in 2022 and prosecutors did not pursue the case, the claim says.

The auctioneer contacted police early in 2023, the claim says, but WPS “did not respond substantively.”

“Several months later, and as a result of inquiries made by the plaintiff’s criminal defence counsel, the plaintiff discovered that one or more WPS officers had destroyed all of the seized firearms on a date not known to the plaintiff,” reads the claim.

If the guns had been sold at auction, the court papers say, the proceeds would have exceeded $50,000. Krywonizka’s suit is seeking that sum, plus interest and damages.

Krywonizka remained the owner of the guns, the lawsuit asserts, and the destruction of them constitutes conversion or trespass to his personal property.

The lawsuit alleges police breached their duty of care to preserve the guns.

Harvie ruled there was a link between Krywonizka’s recent autism diagnosis and his crimes, because his gun collection was one of several collections he maintained — a sign of his preoccupation with his interests.

She found he had no violent tendencies and a pro-law enforcement attitude. His dad is a retired Winnipeg officer.

He had admitted he used an alias to import a firearm sound suppressor that’s prohibited in Canada even though the Canadian Border Services Agency had warned him it was illegal.

Krywonizka’s attempt to import an illegal sound suppressor device is what prompted the police investigation after border agents intercepted the package.

Police found dozens of weapons in his basement gun room and loaded guns in his bedroom night table.

He was legally allowed to have some of the guns, but they were improperly stored. Other weapons that were found had no serial number or were restricted by law.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca