News briefs for Friday, November 4, 2022

Three men and a teenager have been charged in the slaying of a victim found under a cargo truck.

Winnipeg police announced on Friday that Desmond Arthur Paul Houle, 25, of Winnipeg, Nathan Michael Bruce, 22, of Winnipeg, Miles Nicholas Batenchuk, 24, of Berens River, and a 16-year-old Winnipeg male, have all been charged with second-degree murder.

Lionel Sherwin Colombe, 35, was found underneath a truck parked in the 130 block of Clyde Avenue on Oct. 24 at about 9:45 a.m.

Colombe was the city’s 43rd homicide victim this year.

Winnipeg police are asking for the public’s help in finding a missing Elmwood man.

Kyle Podolsky, 37, was last seen in the east end of Elmwood on Oct. 27.

Police said Podolsky is 5-6 in height, with a thin build, green eyes, brown hair, a full beard and moustache. He was last seen wearing a black hoody, pants and shoes.

Anyone with any information about his whereabouts is asked to call the missing persons unit at 204-986-6250.

A man who brandished a knife inside the Millennium Library has been arrested.

Winnipeg police said on Friday the 41-year-old man pulled out a knife on the library’s fourth floor and acted “erratically” around patrons and staff on Thursday at about 3:15 p.m.

Police found the man sitting on the floor in the main floor lobby and arrested him.

The man is facing a charge of possession of a weapon and has been released from custody.

 

 

 

A 14-year-old was charged after he was reportedly wandering around Steinbach in possession of a knife on Thursday afternoon — an event that prompted two local schools to lock their doors and delay dismissals.

In a release Friday, Steinbach RCMP said a teenaged boy was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose on Nov. 3. Authorities seized a “large kitchen knife,” but received no reports of injuries.

The detachment said it received a report of a student who attends Steinbach Regional Secondary School and is known to frequent Stonybrook Middle School walking around in the community with a knife around 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

“At no time was a direct threat made, but with no known whereabouts of the male, it was believed, after consultation with (Hanover School Division) administration, that for safety purposes a hold and secure for both institutions would be put in place,” police said.

There was a brief disruption to regular K-12 operations before the teenage suspect turned himself into police and was taken into custody shortly before 4 p.m.

A Thompson woman missing from the northern city was last seen in Winnipeg, RCMP say.

Natasha Tiffany Wood, 35, was reported missing on Thursday, after she was last seen walking on Princeton Drive in Thompson at around 12 p.m. on Oct. 28.

RCMP have since learned she was spotted on Wednesday around 4:30 p.m. at Winnipeg’s airport. Investigators believe she remains in the capital city.

RCMP said Wood is about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs around 250 lbs, with black hair often tied in a bun and brown eyes. Mounties think she’s wearing a dark blue hoodie and faded jeans with a small black backpack.

RCMP say they’re concerned for her wellbeing and ask for anyone with information on her whereabouts to call the Thompson detachment at 204-677-6909/6911 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.