‘It’s tragic… it’s just shock’: St. James restaurant owner dead, suspect in custody Police say former River Rouge boat operator and man staying in next-door motel got into altercation By: Chris Kitching Posted: 9:03 AM CST Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024 Last Modified: 7:56 PM CST Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024 Updates

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A Winnipeg restaurant owner is being remembered as a gregarious and generous figure, after he died in an altercation with another man outside his Portage Avenue business Wednesday evening.

City police were awaiting autopsy results to confirm the cause of death for Cork & Flame owner Kyriakos Vogiatzakis and determine whether homicide or other charges are warranted against a suspect who was in custody.

“It is a big part of potential or appropriate charges,” police spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen said Thursday. “We just have to let the investigation unfold a little.”

Vogiatzakis’s family, friends and customers were devastated and in shock. His death was announced by his older brother, Mike Vogiatzakis, who operates Voyage Funeral Home, in a Facebook post Wednesday night.

“With sadness and broken hearts, we regret to announce the tragic passing of our younger brother Kyriakos,” he wrote.

Vogiatzakis, 51, opened Cork & Flame at 3106 Portage Ave., in 2019, after owning and operating the MS River Rouge tour boat for about a decade.

The Winnipeg Police Service so far had classified Wednesday’s altercation as a “death investigation.” It said Vogiatzakis and another man got into an altercation outside the restaurant at about 5:30 p.m.

Michalyshen said the major crimes unit is investigating what led up to the incident and whether Vogiatzakis and the suspect had any past contact.

Multiple sources told the Free Press the suspect was staying at the neighbouring Boulevard Motel.

Witnesses and emergency personnel performed CPR on the businessman, who was pronounced dead in hospital. The suspect was arrested nearby.

Michalyshen said police have had some contact with the suspect in the past, but not for significant reasons. Police did not release his age.

Plainclothes detectives were at the closed restaurant Thursday. A note on the door thanked customers for their support.

“He always made sure the customers were taken care of properly. He offered a lot to St. James.”–Norm Staziuk

Friends said Vogiatzakis worked long hours at Cork & Flame, where he was known for going from table to table to greet customers and catch up with regulars.

“He was a super-nice guy,” said friend and frequent customer Norm Staziuk. “He always made sure the customers were taken care of properly. He offered a lot to St. James.”

Staziuk sent a message to Vogiatzakis after seeing a social-media post about a police presence outside the restaurant.

He grew worried when he didn’t get a response and was distraught when he found out Vogiatzakis had died.

“He was a good friend. It’s just too bad that his life is cut short,” Staziuk said. “I’ll miss him.”

Silver Heights Restaurant owner Tony Siwicki and Vogiatzakis bumped into each other and chatted for about 30 minutes, as they often did, while shopping at a wholesale store Monday.

They became friends when Cork & Flame opened. Siwicki and another owner visited to welcome Vogiatzakis to St. James.

“He’s a local restaurant guy, always there all day and all night,” said Siwicki. “He was constantly grinding it out, because that’s what we do.”

Siwicki, chair of the Manitoba Restaurant & Foodservices Association, said owners are distraught and in disbelief over Vogiatzakis’s death.

“It’s tragic. Right now, it’s just shock,” he said.

For the last two Christmases, Vogiatzakis, his staff and other volunteers put together and delivered hampers to dozens of families in need.

“That was the most happy and content I had ever seen him — to be able to give back to the community and the city at large,” said Rev. Nikolaos Tambakis, a priest at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, which Vogiatzakis attended. “That was his nature.”

Tambakis described Vogiatzakis as a loving, welcoming and compassionate person.

“Words cannot express the shock and the sorry that we have as a community, with the loss of Kyriakos,” he said. “Our love and sympathy to his family.”

Debra Floyd, who helped Vogiatzakis with last month’s hampers, said the effort helped 130 people in west Winnipeg.

“He was always giving back to people in his area,” she said. “He had a lot of plans for the future. He was thinking of opening another restaurant.

“He had a lot of plans for the future. He was thinking of opening another restaurant.”–Debra Floyd

“It was hard to believe someone would harm him in any way.”

People staying at the Boulevard Motel said they heard what sounded like people fighting outside after 5 p.m.

A woman, who declined to give her name, said she looked out the window of her second-floor suite and saw a man lying motionless on the ground near the sidewalk in front of the motel.

Another person was trying to perform CPR, said the woman, who rushed outside to help the unresponsive man.

“I went outside and did CPR, too, for 20, 25 minutes,” she said. “You’ve got to do it. Someone has got to do it.”

Other motel tenants said police canvassed the motel for witnesses and any potential video.

The motel owner declined to comment except to say he did not know what happened.

Michalyshen said the autopsy and detectives’ findings will dictate the course of the investigation and the nature of any charges.

“We’re committed to the (Vogiatzakis) family to ensure we get all the facts,” he said.

In a social media post Thursday evening, a relative announced the restaurant would reopen Friday.

Anyone with information or video is asked to call police at 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (TIPS).

— with files from Tyler Searle

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca