Rare summer break for city homicide cops

In the wee hours of May 23, city police officers found Ralph Moise on the ground, suffering from severe upper-body wounds, near Central Park.

The 39-year-old later died in hospital, making him the 15th homicide victim in Winnipeg in 2025.

He is the last person to be slain on city streets in 69 days. His death marked the beginning of an unusual break in fatal violence in Winnipeg, which averaged one homicide every 9.1 days since 2018, including this year.

“Homicides are important to people. They are pretty horrific events, they have really huge ripple effects among families, friends and communities,” said Michael Weinrath, a criminology professor at the University of Winnipeg.

“It’s been a good couple of months, and sometimes we dwell on all the negatives in terms of crimes we hear about… but I think people would try to feel positive about some of the efforts of public service agencies.”

If 2025 continues at the current rate, Winnipeg would end the year with 26 homicides — the lowest annual number since 2018, when 22 people were slain.

Data from Winnipeg Police Service annual reports show 44 people were slain in 2019, 42 in 2020 and 43 in 2021.

Fatal violence soared in 2022, when 53 people were killed. There were 44 homicides in 2023 and 41 in 2024.

Weinrath, who has spent more than three decades studying crime, warned the rate of homicides is stochastic, meaning its probability is random and cannot be predicted.

“We’ve actually been not bad at times, and then had a significant number of homicides in the last four or five months of the year, so let’s keep our fingers crossed,” Weinrath said.

“We’ve had some years with phenomenally high homicide rates and that’s a strain because there is a finite number of people in the homicide unit… there’s a lot of pressure and stress to resolve those things.”

A few bad months could cause the numbers to rise, placing this year’s homicide rate in line with years past. Still, the two-month break is a reprieve for police and emergency responders, who shoulder the immediate brunt of such crimes, he said.

“It’s good that there seems to be a pause in homicides, but I wouldn’t say it’s a break, per say, because investigators continue to work diligently on the files they have,” said WPS spokesperson Const. Pat Saydak.

“But, from a resource perspective, any time there is less violence out there… it does give investigators more time.”

Weinrath noted the homicide unit has a high clearance rate.

Last year, city police solved 93 per cent of killings, up from 80 per cent in 2023 and 83 per cent in 2022, data in annual reports show.

Police have laid charges in all but two of the homicides logged so far this year, placing the current clearance rate at 86 per cent.

The outstanding cases include the March 17 slaying of Mexican migrant Diego Moscoza, 28, and the May 31 slaying of 52-year-old Clinton Simard. Police have not named a suspect in either case.

Investigators identified a suspect in the slaying of Moise, but he remains at large. Paul Xavier Bonnick, 33, is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for second-degree murder.

Police have warned the public not to approach Bonnick, who may be armed and is considered dangerous.

Anyone with information regarding the ongoing investigations should contact the homicide unit at 204-986-6508, call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477 (TIPS), or submit a tip online at winnipegcrimestoppers.org.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca