Winnipeg police shooting victim identified 'We think the police can do better': South Sudanese community leader By: Ryan Thorpe Posted: 7:00 PM CST Monday, Feb. 25, 2019

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This article was published 24/02/2019 (2132 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The man shot to death by Winnipeg police at a West Broadway apartment complex Saturday has been identified as Machuar Mawien Madut, a 43-year-old refugee who fled war-torn Sudan in the early-2000s with his wife and children.

The city’s South Sudanese community demanded answers Monday for what it views as excessive force by the Winnipeg Police Service, saying Madut was a peaceful man struggling with mental health issues.

“It’s devastating, it is sad, and we in the community condemn it, because we think the police can do better to de-escalate… We need these situations to be resolved peacefully so everyone can go back home to their families,” said Martin Laku, president of the Council of South Sudanese Community of Manitoba.

“We believe this could have had a different outcome, a positive outcome. The police are trained, they’re aware of mental illness and they could de-escalate this situation and talk him out and calm him and save his life.”

Details on the fatal WPS shooting — the third such incident in 2019 — remain scarce. The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba — the provincial civilian-led police watchdog — is probing the death.

On Monday, the IIU said in a news release that the WPS responded to the apartment complex at 182 Colony St. at 9:43 a.m. Saturday, after receiving reports of a possible break and enter, and a man armed with a hammer.

“A confrontation with the male took place, and resulted in an officer or officers discharging their firearms. The male was transported to Health Sciences Centre where he was subsequently pronounced deceased,” the IIU said.

In the lead up to the fatal encounter, Madut reportedly had been struggling with mental health concerns aggravated by his separation from his wife and three children (who now live in Vancouver).

His cousin, Ayei Madut, who also lives at the West Broadway apartment complex, had been helping him navigate the bureaucracies of Employment and Income Assistance and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

Ayei Madut said he had been scheduled to take his cousin for a meeting with a mental health professional later Saturday.

Sandy Deng, a member of Winnipeg’s tight-knit South Sudanese community, said it’s believed Machuar Madut was experiencing an episode prior to the shooting, and had been dragging his household belongings from his apartment to the back of the building. This activity may have led someone to call police, despite Madut living in the building for some time.

“We’re really, really upset because this is a typical stereotype for people who come from marginalized communities. There’s always a justification for a shooting. I was hoping that the police would give us a better picture of what really happened,” Deng said.

“Instead of a mobile crisis unit being called, the police was called and the result of it was not the best… I just want to make it clear that Machuar was not a criminal… and people need to understand that.”

A rally is planned Friday for outside Winnipeg Police Service headquarters on Smith Street in protest of the shooting.

“We want to have a good relationship with the police. We have to respect the police,” said Reuben Garang, a South Sudanese community member. “But we will lose that respect if they continue to kill people.”

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe

Ryan Thorpe
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Ryan Thorpe likes the pace of daily news, the feeling of a broadsheet in his hands and the stress of never-ending deadlines hanging over his head.

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