Accused in home invasion has lengthy record of weapons offences

The accused in a Monday-evening home invasion that sent an elderly man to hospital with a stab wound was previously warned he could kill someone one day because of the weapons he was repeatedly caught with.

Ryan Chase George, 23, is accused of barging into a Garden City home and stabbing a man in his 80s and assaulting a woman in her 70s while they were relaxing in their living room.

George has a lengthy criminal record dating back to when he was 18, including multiple weapons-related offences involving knives, homemade guns, machetes, swords and throwing stars.

During a 2024 hearing for a weapons-related charge in which he was linked to a homemade gun, Crown attorney Adam Gingera said George was slowly graduating to deadlier weapons the older he got.

“And he’ll kill someone,” Gingera told provincial court Judge Sandra Chapman.

George pleaded guilty to possessing a weapon in November 2023 when his then-girlfriend phoned the police about a homemade gun in a duffel bag found at her grandmother’s home. The brown bag had George’s middle name written on it in black marker.

Police learned George used the gun to threaten the grandmother into cleaning the house, because he was planning to spend the night there.

In July that year George was also caught on two separate occasions with a machete and 76-centimetre-long sword.

Court heard the accused has been homeless most of his adult life and, while staying in a shelter at the age of 18, he was the victim of a “major” sexual assault.

He carries weapons to protect himself, Gingera said.

“If we’re speaking about disadvantages, he’s a poster child,” he said.

Chapman told him to stay away from homemade weapons and sentenced him to two years less a day. She also imposed a lifetime weapons ban.

Weeks before Monday’s incident, on Aug. 5, George pleaded guilty to possessing a knife in May.

On May 6, police were called downtown about possible gang activity and saw George walking away from a group of people. Upon being questioned, George ran away, ditching a knife and a backpack with a homemade weapon inside.

George pleaded guilty to possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and failing to comply with a release order. He was given credit for the 30 days he spent in custody ahead of his plea and released after the sentencing hearing.

On Tuesday police said George entered a home on Meredith Bay in Garden City at about 6:30 p.m. Monday and armed himself with a knife he found inside.

He attacked the couple from behind, punching the woman and stabbing the man, before quickly running outside, police said.

Paramedics treated the woman at the scene but rushed the man to hospital in unstable condition, where he was later upgraded to stable.

Shortly after the incident, police officers found an “extremely” intoxicated man near the home, arrested him and seized a knife.

George is charged with breaking and entering to commit aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon.

He was detained in custody. His next court date is Sept. 25.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca