Slaying spree continues with fatal stabbing Thursday

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This article was published 30/10/2019 (1884 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police are investigating the city’s 37th homicide of 2019 — and its fourth homicide in the past five days — after a man was found stabbed to death outside a multi-unit home in the West End Thursday morning.

Police were called to the four-unit residence at 821 St. Matthews Ave. at 9:50 a.m. where officers found an injured man. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.

While police have not released the cause of death, a law enforcement source tells the Free Press the victim was stabbed at a location close to the home.

Initially, police did not know where the attack had happened, the source said. A knife was subsequently recovered on Burnell Street, which intersects with St. Matthews Avenue.

It remains unclear if the attack happened on Burnell Street or if the weapon was dropped there.

It’s believed that after being attacked, the victim stumbled through the streets and back lanes until he ended up outside the home at 821 St. Matthews Ave.

Police were called after one of the building’s residents stepped outside and discovered the man, who was bleeding.

The source said investigators believe the victim attempted to rouse the occupants of the residence in order to get medical assistance, but failed to do so. At some point, he collapsed and bled out, the source said.

General patrol officers and plainclothes investigators guarded the scene and canvassed the surrounding neighbourhood Thursday afternoon.

A nearby resident, who declined to give his name, told the Free Press a detective stopped by his home after noticing he had a sign warning potential intruders he had a home security system.

The man said the detective took a copy of his surveillance footage, but did not say whether anything captured on camera was helpful in the investigation.

Winnipeg is four homicides shy of its record of 41 in 2011.

Anyone with information is asked to contact homicide investigators at 204-986-6508.

This latest slaying continues a gruelling week for the homicide unit. Since Oct. 26, there have been four killings in the city, including a fatal stabbing that claimed the life of a 14-year-old girl.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe