IIU investigating after man killed by Winnipeg police Friday

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This article was published 31/05/2025 (301 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s police watchdog is investigating the death of a man who was shot by city police after he was found covered in blood and armed with a screwdriver in a back alley in St. James Friday.

The man has been identified by his family as 32-year-old Dillon Warren Breed.

Gene Bowers, chief of the Winnipeg Police Service, hosted a rare weekend news conference on Saturday afternoon to share details about the fatal shooting that happened one night earlier.

One or more uniformed officers discharged a gun within five minutes of WPS receiving a 911 call about a man who was acting erratically in the 200 block of Ferry Road, Bowers said.

“Last night was a very difficult moment for our community,” he told reporters at WPS headquarters in downtown Winnipeg.

“Our hearts go out to the family who has lost a loved one, to the officers who were involved in a split-second decision that forever changed them.”

Bowers provided few details about the series of events, citing an ongoing probe by the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba.

When reached by the Free Press on Sunday, Breed’s mother Doreen Henderson confirmed her son was the victim of the shooting. His family in Ontario is making arrangements to travel to Winnipeg and is waiting for the results of a scheduled autopsy. His mother declined to speak publicly, but she wanted to make clear her son had never been in jail and had no criminal record.

All serious incidents involving on- and off-duty police officers in the province are referred to the IIU to investigate.

The police chief said West District patrol officers responded to a “suspicious call” about an unknown man who was covered in blood and appeared to be attempting to break into houses at 6:11 p.m. Friday.

Police located an adult male who fit that description and was armed with a screwdriver at 6:16 p.m., he said.

It was unclear Saturday whether the suspect was covered in his own blood or that of someone or something else’s.

Bowers said a “use-of-force encounter” occurred and the man was shot, after which the officers involved provided medical care before paramedics arrived and he was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The man later died of his injuries.

“Our members are trained to react to a level of force in an appropriate way… In incidences where an officer is fearful of grievous bodily harm or death then potential deadly force is utilized,” Bowers said.

The officers are now on leave, as per the police service’s critical incident protocols, the police chief said, adding he has personally met with them to make sure they are getting the support they require.

The IIU has asked any witnesses or those with video footage from the area to contact them, and has said no additional information will be publicly released before its investigation is complete. They’re asking anyone with information that may help the investigation to call them toll-free at 1-844-667-6060.

The entirety of the 277 Ferry Rd. plot was taped off after the incident.

A woman who lives on the property told the Free Press she was inside her house when two gunshots rang out in her backyard-turned-crime scene.

The alley behind it and approximately a half-dozen other houses remained temporarily off-limits on Saturday.

One affected homeowner recalled he went outside shortly after 6 p.m. Friday — minutes before he heard police yelling warnings, a taser and multiple gunshots a few doors down — to confront a man on his property.

His next-door neighbour called to let him know his basement window had been smashed up, said the 73-year-old who declined to provide his name for publication.

The retiree said he encountered a man with a handful of lawn ornaments, one of which belonged to him, and a box cutter. He said he yelled at the stranger to get off his lot.

“I don’t even remember what he said because he wasn’t speaking anything I understood. It was gibberish. He was wired up,” he said.

The senior noted his adult son also went outside to confront the man.

The stranger tried to spray brake cleaning fluid at his son, he said, noting his son’s girlfriend called 911 and multiple police cars arrived on the scene in short order.

Another neighbour peeked outside amid all the commotion around dinnertime and asked one of numerous uniformed officers on the scene if it was safe to be in the area.

The senior, who lives alone with her pet bird, said she was told to return inside and lock her doors indefinitely.

“I couldn’t sleep last night. It was 3 a.m. and then I thought, ‘What am I doing? This will be as safe as I’ll ever be on Ferry Road because the place is crawling with cops,’” she added.

Breed is the second person in Manitoba to be killed by police this year. Manitoba has had 10 fatal police shootings since May 2023 involving RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service.

— with files from Katie May

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca