IIU investigating officer-involved shooting on Colony Street

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This article was published 22/02/2019 (2135 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man died of gunshot wounds following an “officer-involved shooting” in West Broadway on Saturday, according to the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, although details remain sketchy.

Police vehicles and crime scene tape blocked off the front and back of an apartment building at 182 Colony St. as of 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon. IIU investigators were inside the building, according to police outside.

When exactly the shooting took place is unclear, wrote IIU spokesperson Barbara Czech in an email.

“However, (the Winnipeg Police Service) immediately notified IIU and IIU investigators were deployed to the scene,” she wrote.

Joseph Towongo, who lives nearby, said he returned home from work at about noon on Saturday to find the street closed off by police. He’s lived in the area for four years, and said he considers the neighbourhood safe.

But local resident Andrei, who declined to give his last name, said he’s noticed more police in the area recently, citing a late January standoff in a Colony Street apartment in which a man allegedly held a woman hostage. 

“Of course it concerns me, and I wish police, especially later at night, they check the area more often,” he said.

The IIU says it will release more details about the shooting on Monday.

Saturday’s shooting is the third officer-involved shooting this year. The first occurred on Jan. 9, an assault victim flagged down police near McLeod Avenue and Raleigh Street in North Kildonan. The victim described an assault with an edged weapon and police began searching for three suspects fleeing in a vehicle.

After the chase was called off due to excessive speed, more cruisers cornered the suspect vehicle at Panet Road and Nairn Avenue. The suspect vehicle rammed the police blockade, at which point police opened fire. Another blockade was set up near Marion Street and Archibald Street, where the suspects made a vain attempt to flee by driving on railway tracks.

Three suspects, two men and one woman, were taken into custody. One, a 23-year-old man, was found suffering from a gunshot wound. He was treated in hospital and released back into custody.

One officer was injured when he was struck by a moving train, though his injuries were not described as life-threatening.

The second officer-involved shooting occurred Jan. 11. Officers encountered a man acting suspiciously in the Sargent Avenue and Maryland Street area.

The man fled but the officers later found the man in a nearby vacant where police fired their weapons. Officers provided medical assistance to the victim, including CPR. The man died after being taken to hospital.

The IIU is probing both shootings, as well. 

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca  

@sol_israel