Seven Oaks parents reeling after daylight home invasion, intruder’s collapse

A Winnipeg mother told the Free Press her sense of safety has been shaken after a man broke into her house, collapsed and later was pronounced dead in hospital.

The 22-year-old woman said the intruder jumped over a fence and walked in through a back door that she unlocked moments earlier while letting her dogs outside at about 8 a.m. last Wednesday.

“I thought it was my partner. When (the man) peeked around the corner and saw me, I went running at him,” said the woman, who asked not to be named because she fears for her safety. “I started screaming at him, ‘Get out of my house, I have a baby here.’ It was terrifying.”

She was in her front living room at the time. Her four-month-old son was sleeping in a room near the back of the house in the 100 block of Burrin Avenue, between Main and Scotia streets, in Seven Oaks.

The woman, who called 911, said her partner came out of the bathroom, pushed the man into a back room and stayed between him and the mother and baby.

She said the intruder, who appeared to be highly intoxicated, threatened her and her partner.

Police officers arrived shortly after the man collapsed into unconsciousness in the back room, the woman said.

She said officers gave him multiple doses of naloxone, a medication that can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose, before paramedics transported him to hospital.

In a news release, the Winnipeg Police Service said a 34-year-old man who “unlawfully” entered the home was unconscious when officers arrived to a report of a break-in.

Officers handcuffed the man for safety reasons while they provided first aid until Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service members arrived, police said.

The man was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital in critical condition, said police, who directed questions to the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, a civilian police watchdog.

The IIU is investigating because the matter was deemed an in-custody death.

An IIU spokesperson was not available for comment on Easter Monday. The agency previously said in a news release that officers, while responding to a report of a break-in, determined the man was in “medical distress” before handcuffing him for safety reasons and providing first aid.

The woman and her partner gave statements to police and IIU investigators. She described the incident and the man’s death as heartbreaking.

“We’re having a hard time feeling safe while having our son in the house.”

She said she felt “pretty safe” prior to the incident, but her feelings have changed.

“I think we’re having a hard time feeling safe while having our son in the house,” the woman said. “I think we’re having a hard time sleeping in the house.”

She said the couple kept their fence gate locked, among other precautions, prior to the incident. She encouraged people to keep their home’s doors locked at all times to prevent strangers from entering.

“We’ve always been vigilant. It was, literally, a split second from letting the dogs out and walking away, that he came into the house,” the woman said.

The sight of police tape around the front of the house prompted speculation among some local residents on social media.

Some social media users made assumptions about what happened inside the house, when police and the IIU issued similar news releases, which were short on details, the following day.

The woman said misinformation or incorrect assumptions could cause harm.

“It bothers me that people think that we killed somebody, and they’re spreading that information,” she said. “It could put us in danger, when that’s not at all what happened.”

“It bothers me that people think that we killed somebody…. when that’s not at all what happened.”

The woman wrote and delivered letters to her immediate neighbours to explain the circumstances and reassure them.

“Everybody was scared,” she said.

Winnipeg police received 14,345 reports of violent crimes between November 2024 and October 2025 (the latest available statistics), a nearly six per cent decrease from the previous 12-month period, an online dashboard shows.

There was no percentage change in the number of property crimes reported year over year (from 48,613 to 48,610).

In Seven Oaks, reports of violent crime decreased by 19 per cent, and property-crime reports dropped by 9.2 per cent.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca