Sex offender hid in school washroom, grabbed student: police Officer lauds ‘brave student,’ ‘proactive’ witness for capture of suspect outside St. Vital Centre By: Tyler Searle Posted: 12:04 PM CST Friday, Nov. 28, 2025 Last Modified: 5:25 PM CST Friday, Nov. 28, 2025 Updates

A convicted sex offender is accused of ambushing a child inside a Winnipeg elementary school by hiding in the washroom and grabbing her before she broke free and ran for help.

The Winnipeg Police Service did not name the school nor provide the age and gender of the child on Friday, but parents told the Free Press the incident happened at Darwin School and involved a girl under the age of 10.

WPS said officers were sent to the St. Vital-area school at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, after receiving reports of the attack. Investigators learned the suspect entered the school and hid inside a stall in a children’s bathroom.

“When a student exited an adjacent stall that they were using, the man grabbed hold of the child. The child fought and managed to break free from the suspect, ran to a teacher and made a report,” WPS Const. Dani McKinnon told reporters Friday.

“What a brave student… This child fought their way out and quickly made a report, and here we are today. This person is in custody and did not have an opportunity to harm anybody else.”

The child did not require medical treatment. The WPS child abuse unit is working with the victim’s family, McKinnon said.

The suspect is not believed to have any connection with the school. Police said he fled the building and the school initiated a hold and secure protocol.

A witness spotted the suspect running from the building and followed him in their vehicle until the man went inside St. Vital Centre, located a few hundred metres away.

“What a brave student… This child fought their way out and quickly made a report, and here we are today.”

Police worked with mall security to track the suspect’s movements throughout the building. Officers arrested him when he exited the mall, McKinnon said.

She lauded the witness for safely following the suspect, saying the decision potentially prevented him from escaping on a bus, or disappearing into a business or residence.

“It sounds like they just happened to be at the right place at the right time,” McKinnon said. “I will say that is some really proactive, excellent work.”

Scott William George, 28, has been charged with assault, forcible confinement and two counts of failing to comply with a prohibition regarding children. He was detained in custody.

George has been a registered sex offender since he pleaded guilty to sexual interference and was sentenced to two years custody after admitting to grabbing the buttocks of a six-year-old girl in the lobby of the Scotiabank Theatre at CF Polo Park in July 2022.

George, then 25, ran out of the theatre, with the girl’s father in pursuit. Police arrested him a short distance away about 20 minutes later.

George admitted touching the girl, telling police he “did not think (she) would be scared,” Crown attorney David Gilleta told provincial court Judge Ray Wyant.

When police asked George if he thought little girls liked being touched by older men, he replied “pretty much,” Gilleta said.

George is from Berens River First Nation, spent much of his childhood in the care of Child and Family Services, has a history of substance abuse and is often homeless, according to court records.

Prior to his July 2022 arrest, George had been sniffing lacquer and drinking hand sanitizer.

According to a pre-sentence report provided to court, George downplayed the impact of his actions on the child and refused to consider sexual offender counselling.

“Obviously that is not a fruitful position to take for any future risk reduction,” Gilleta said.

Wyant ordered George’s name be included on the national sex offender registry for 10 years and prohibited him from contact with children 16 and younger for the same time period.

His record, which dates back to 2015, also includes court order breaches, break-and-enters, weapons offences and property crimes.

Most recently, George was sentenced last February to the equivalent of 90 days time served after he was seen brandishing a knife in a commercial parking lot on Taylor Avenue, breaching a probation condition that he not possess a weapon.

A parent, who spoke to the Free Press on condition of anonymity, said their child is in the same class as the victim and was there when she ran into the room and reported the attack to a teacher.

“My (child) said (their) friend went to the washroom, obviously by herself, and a man was in the washroom and came up behind her and put his hand over her mouth and kind of wrestled her. She broke free, frantically screaming down the hallway and ran into the classroom,” the parent said.

“The teacher did a really good job of securing the room quickly. It sounds like a protocol was in place.”

“The teacher did a really good job of securing the room quickly. It sounds like a protocol was in place.”

The victim described her attacker to the teacher, saying it was a dark-skinned man wearing a medical mask. The teacher communicated that information to school administrators as the other students listened, the parent said.

“They had to get a description of what happened. Unfortunately, having that happen in front of a bunch of kids who are worried is shocking,” the parent said.

The parent said their child is having difficulty understanding what happened, and it is hard to explain because they are so young.

“We had a horrible night.”

Darwin School Principal Erin Enns wrote a letter to parents Thursday, alerting them that an unknown person had entered the school.

“Often, when this sort of event occurs, students have questions and want to talk about what happened. I am sharing this information so that everyone in our community receives accurate information,” Enns wrote in the letter, which was provided to the Free Press by a spokesperson for the Louis Riel School Division.

Darwin School has made a team of administrators, students services teachers and clinical staff available to provide support to students and staff. It also sent a second letter to families with advice on how to discuss the incident with their children.

The kindergarten to Grade 8 school has 228 children, the school division’s dashboard notes.

McKinnon said the school is not enrolled in the WPS school resource officer program. Uniformed and armed officers have worked in some schools since 2002, but Louis Riel ended its involvement with the program in 2021.

Between 2016 and 2021, a single police officer was stationed across the Louis Riel division, which has 40 schools, the Free Press reported previously.

The parent said they would like to see stricter security measures introduced to all schools in the province.

“We protect our liquor stores more than we protect our children, in my opinion,” they said.

It is unclear how the suspect was able to enter the school. The WPS deferred comment to the school division, but the Free Press did not immediately receive a response.

— with files from Dean Pritchard

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca