‘We need closure’: homicide victim’s family ask public for help on case

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This article was published 06/06/2019 (2028 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Less than a week after a random attack on a city street left a young man dead, a Winnipeg family joined police to plead for help solving the case.

“Winnipeg lost a promising young lawyer… and a very huge Jets fan. There is a hole in our hearts. We need closure,” said Michael Silicz, older brother of 32-year-old Justin Silicz, who was killed June 2 while walking to his parked car with two friends on Arlington Street around 4:30 a.m.

Investigators believe three other men approached Silicz’s group and got into an altercation.

There was a weapon involved, but Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Rob Carver said he couldn’t be more specific or release any other information about what led up to the confrontation because the homicide investigation is still in the early stages.

Police are looking for three male suspects, including one described as a black man in his mid-20s, about six-feet tall with a slim build, wearing red clothes. The other two men were described as having darker complexions and wearing dark clothing, according to the police service.

The trio walked away after the attack, heading east on Winnipeg Avenue.

“If you’re one of those three guys that made a mistake, please come forward. We want justice for our little JJ,” Michael Silicz pleaded during the news conference Friday, flanked by his parents Walter and Nicole Silicz.

The two friends accompanying Silicz were not injured, but they witnessed his death — the result of a “completely random” confrontation, Carver said.

“If you’re one of those three guys that made a mistake, please come forward. We want justice for our little JJ.”–Michael Silicz

“This is a horrible intersection of two groups that had nothing to do with each other,” he told reporters Friday.

“I don’t see anything that I’ve been briefed on that would indicate that there was anything that anyone would have done different if it was any of us out that evening. It didn’t start out as some beef between two parties.”

Police are asking local residents and businesses in the area to check video surveillance footage. Investigators want anyone who knows anything about what happened to call 204-986-6219 or leave a tip with Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.

The attack doesn’t appear to be connected to other violent assaults reported in the same area that morning, Carver said.

Silicz, who worked at the Pullan Kammerloch Frohlinger law firm and specialized in real estate law, was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” his obituary said.

“This is a horrible intersection of two groups that had nothing to do with each other.”–Const. Rob Carver

In the obituary, those who knew him best remembered Silicz as a fitness enthusiast and weight-lifting guru who loved hockey and was fiercely loyal to his family.

“He was quietly ambitious and competitive in the right ways. His star was just beginning to rise,” it said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca  Twitter: @thatkatiemay