Teen stabbed over cigarette, dad says

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/05/2023 (1108 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 15-year-old boy was stabbed after he asked a group of youngsters hanging around in a schoolyard for a cigarette, his father says.

“He was going for a walk through the park there, and he asked somebody for a cigarette… He talked to them for a couple seconds, then boom, he got stabbed,” the dad said.

Police were sent to the incident at Isaac Brock School at 1265 Barratt Ave. just after 11 p.m. Thursday after the boy ran to a nearby home following the confrontation with the four teens.

The resident called 911 and the suspects fled, police said.

No arrests had been made as of Friday afternoon.

The boy was taken to hospital in unstable condition and later stabilized. The single stab wound had punctured his lung.

He had surgery Friday morning, his 35-year-old father said outside their Clifton Street home.

The boy, his father and stepmother had just arrived home from the hospital. His son was groggy and was wearing a surgical gown when the dad spoke with the Free Press.

The dad of nine, who the Free Press is not naming, said the teen had gone to the nearby McDonald’s restaurant.

He walked through the schoolyard on the way home to pick up a phone charger, and had planned to catch a bus to his mother’s place in Osborne Village.

“There’s only so much I can do — he’s a teenager,” the dad said.

The dad was leaving work when he noticed his wife had called him repeatedly. When he got home, the street “looked like a war zone.”

There were a dozen police cruisers and the police helicopter circled overhead.

“I’ve tried to teach my son about life on the streets in Winnipeg, especially at nighttime,” the dad said.

“He’s shocked, but he’s not surprised… he knows what’s out there.”

Police ask anyone with information to call investigators at 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.

Helene Seradilla, a 36-year-old mother of two boys who lives nearby, said she heard police coming down the street and the sound of kids running.

“It’s definitely worrisome. We don’t have any problems in our area,” she said. “There’s a few incidents, but far and few between.”

Seradilla added she tells her boys, who attend the school, to stay out of trouble and to come home by a certain hour.

Ed Braun, a 72-year-old retired teacher who also lives nearby, said he was shocked to learn about the stabbing.

“It’s a great neighbourhood,” he said. “That’s astonishing to me… I’m quite surprised, really.”

He said youngsters in the neighbourhood are respectful and community-minded, in his experience.

erik.pindera@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @erik_pindera