School division offers crisis counselling in wake of city violence

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This article was published 02/11/2019 (1783 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a second weekend of gun deaths in Winnipeg and two children fatally stabbed this past week, the Winnipeg School Division is reaching out to inner-city schools to see if students, parents and staff need help coping.

“This is a really trying time for a lot of people,” Winnipeg School Division spokeswoman Radean Carter said Sunday.

Winnipeg recorded its 39th homicide of the year late Saturday afternoon, when three-year-old Hunter Haze Straight-Smith was taken off life-support.

A memorial with stuffed animals, toys and flowers has been set up in front of the home on Pritchard Avenue where Hunter was fatally wounded. The little boy was sleeping when he was allegedly stabbed repeatedly in the neck by his mother’s ex-boyfriend early Wednesday and suffered major blood loss and brain damage. On Sunday, police had not yet upgraded the attempted murder charge against the accused, Daniel Jensen, 33.

Last Saturday, 14-year-old Jakira Eastman-Moore was stabbed to death at a Halloween party in Tyndall Park. An 18-year-old woman was also stabbed, but is expected to live. Police charged two sisters — ages 18 and 16 — with second-degree murder and attempted murder.

Last week, the school division sent a note to parents in the core area about the clinical support services that are available, with crisis response counsellors ready to help, said Carter.

“Come to the school and let us know if you need them, if your child needs them, let us know,” Carter said, describing the message to parents. She said they also reminded teachers and other school staff that employee assistance programs are there to help them, too.

“If people are feeling the strain, and especially teachers and those who are working with children on a daily basis, it’s bound to have an impact on them,” said Carter.

The violence is having an impact on Winnipeg police who had more shootings and another gun death to investigate this weekend.

A man was shot and killed in the Exchange District at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. It was the 38th homicide of the year. The incident began inside Citizen nightclub in the 200 block of Bannatyne Avenue, police said. A man in his 30s was found dead and a second man in his 30s was shot in the lower body and taken to hospital in stable condition. On Sunday, police weren’t announcing any arrests or releasing the victims’ names.

Another shooting — late Saturday afternoon in Elmwood — sent one man to hospital. Winnipeg Police Service Const. Rob Carver said Sunday that officers responded to a number of calls from people in the area who heard a gunshot at about 4 p.m. Saturday. A man in the 300 block of William Newton Avenue was taken to hospital in unstable condition, then later upgraded to stable condition, Carver said. He wouldn’t say if police have identified a suspect.

Last weekend in Winnipeg saw even more gun deaths and violence.

Last Sunday, Oct. 27, Edwin Adrian Harper and Wayne Patrick Palidwor were shot and killed on Oct. 27 in the back lane of Ross Avenue near Isabel Street in the early morning. Police have asked people and businesses in the area to check their surveillance systems for images from between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. Oct. 27.

Later that same Sunday, at about 3:15 p.m., someone fired a shotgun inside a home in the 400 block of Flora Avenue and hurt four people, including an infant. None of the injuries were reportedly life threatening, and no charges have yet been announced in connection with the case.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca