Teen girl charged in Powerview-Pine Falls homicide

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2022 (1531 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One man is dead and one woman injured, after a teenage driver intentionally hit them with a vehicle in Powerview-Pine Falls, police say.

A 15-year-old girl from nearby Sagkeeng First Nation has been charged with second-degree murder.

At about 8:45 p.m. on June 3, RCMP were called to a collision involving two pedestrians on an off-road vehicle trail adjacent to Dupont Street in the rural community about 120 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

A 20-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene; a 27-year-old woman was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Both were from Powerview-Pine Falls. No names have been released.

It’s rare to see a vehicle used as a weapon in a homicide, Manitoba RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Julie Courchaine said Tuesday.

“Relatively speaking, in my experience, we don’t see investigations like this very often,” Courchaine told the Free Press, noting she did not have exact statistics available.

The two people had been walking together on the trail, which is used by all-terrain vehicles and leads into the bush near the road, she said.

Police confirmed the victims and the accused knew each other but would not elaborate on how.

The spokeswoman also confirmed the 15-year-old female wasn’t driving legally, although she had not been charged with any Highway Traffic Act offences by Tuesday afternoon.

Police would not reveal whose vehicle the teen had allegedly been driving but noted it wasn’t stolen.

The teen accused was remanded into custody. She was due in court Tuesday in Winnipeg.

“Our investigators are just focused on getting answers for the victims’ families, for the communities — it does have a far-reaching effect,” Courchaine said of recent violence investigated by the RCMP. “A lot of tragedy, everywhere.”

In Thompson, a Winnipeg man died after he was stabbed in the northern city early Sunday, allegedly by a 15-year-old boy.

Officers were called to Public Road in Thompson for a report of a stabbing around 12:10 a.m., RCMP said Tuesday.

When officers arrived, they found a 43-year-old man, whose name has not been released, suffering from life-threatening injuries. He was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead.

A 15-year-old male from Thompson has been charged with second-degree murder. He was remanded into custody and is due in court Thursday.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera