Man accused of bringing smoke grenade into Grace Hospital

An intoxicated man was found waiting at the Grace Hospital Monday morning with a smoke grenade in his possession, Winnipeg police said, leading a union leader to raise questions about safety at the facility.

Winnipeg Police Service officers were called to the hospital on Booth Drive by security personnel, who found the device on the man when interacting with him at about 5:30 a.m., police said Wednesday.

The man, who exhibited“bizarre behaviour,” had been sitting in the waiting room for around 11 hours and became intoxicated during that time, said a Manitoba Nurses Union official, relaying information from a nurse who works at the Grace.

Police bomb unit investigators were called in to check out the device, which they determined was an active military-grade smoke-screen training grenade.

Such devices blow out smoke when triggered and are used to cloud visibility, typically during military operations. The canisters do not explode.

Nurses union president Darlene Jackson said the incident is worrying.

“It was a smoke canister that hadn’t been set off — I get that — but it tells me that if you can get a smoke canister into that building, you can get other things into that building,” said Jackson. “It’s worrying, the lack of security they have in that facility.”

She said metal detectors at the hospital doors could have caught the device.

The Grace Hospital does not have institutional safety officers — licensed and specially trained peace officers that work at certain health-care facilities and other institutions across the province — or weapons scanners like at Health Sciences Centre, Jackson noted.

Jackson said the provincial health department should review safety and security concerns at the Grace, including whether safety officers and weapons scanners should be put in place.

“It shouldn’t wait until a critical incident happens, in order to start looking at what safety measures need to happen there… this government is really quite reactive, rather than proactive,” she said.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said government officials are taking the incident seriously and are in contact with health agencies to ensure it’s appropriately followed up on.

The minister pointed to measures the province has taken to address safety at the hospital, including adding more security personnel, installing a new intercom system, improving door locks, upgrading lighting and increasing security patrols.

The province also plans to implement card access, replace the emergency department front doors and roll out access to a safety app.

Asagwara said the health department will work with health agencies and staff to determine what else can be done to improve safety at the Grace and other hospitals.

Police aren’t sure how the man managed to get his hands on a smoke grenade. The devices are considered prohibited or restricted weapons and are unavailable to the public, said police spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon.

“(We have) no clue where it came from,” said McKinnon.

The man did not appear to be planning to set off the smoke canister, said McKinnon. It’s unclear if the individual even knew what the device was.

Bomb unit investigators advised the smoke given off by such devices doesn’t generally cause respiratory distress. It appears the device was of the type used by the Canadian Armed Forces.

Kevin George Daniels, 45, has been charged with several weapons offences. He was held in custody.

He has a lengthy record that dates back to the early 2000s, with multiple convictions for violence, including numerous assaults and an attempted murder in a park near Higgins Avenue and Main Street in 2011. His record also includes thefts, frauds and court order breaches, records show.

Daniels pleaded guilty to the attempted murder, along with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and two counts of assault with a weapon, in 2012.

He was given six years in prison, less time served, and banned from possessing weapons for life. He’s accused of breaching that order during the Monday incident.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca